Cut-and-come-again salad
Lactuca sativa
Botanical family: Asteraceae
Mixes (mescluns) or single-species varieties: oak-leaf cutting lettuces, corn salad, rocket, young shoots of spinach, mustard, cress, chicory. Staggered sowings every 15 days from March to October (under a cold tunnel in winter for corn salad and young shoots). A well-managed bed provides fresh salads almost all year round, without having to buy pre-packed bags. Source: Eliot Coleman, Four-Season Harvest, Chelsea Green, 1999.
Partial shade
Cool, humus-rich, free-draining
Regular (soil never dry)
Depending on variety (winter mesclun fairly hardy)
Protect over winter in your zone
Role in permaculture
A family of salads (lettuces, chicories, corn salad, rocket) grown for cutting for their young leaves rather than as a head. A pillar of the permanent kitchen garden: broadcast-sown in a dense bed, cut with scissors 2-3 cm from the ground, regrowing in 2 to 3 weeks for two to four cuts per bed. Much used in intensive models such as Bec Hellouin.
Good companions
Trap plants (variable effect, need watching)
Traditional companion planting (benefit not demonstrated)
Poor companions
Allelopathy, reputed or observed: may slow some neighbours
Insects attracted or useful
Seasons & availability
Cut-and-come-again lettuces: available all year round depending on the variety.
Available: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.
Guidance for the oceanic / temperate climate; it may vary with your region, altitude, exposure and growing method.
Sources
- RHS, « How to Grow Salad leaves » (rhs.org.uk/vegetables/salad-leaves/grow-your-own)
- Garden Organic, « Salad, oriental » (gardenorganic.org.uk/expert-advice/how-to-grow/growing-guides/vegetables-herbs-guides/how-to-grow-oriental-salad)
Nutritional & medicinal properties
For educational purposes. Not a substitute for medical advice. Effects depend on the form, the dose and personal context.
Precautions & contraindications
A salad eaten raw: wash it well (if need be in lightly vinegared water) before spinning it dry. Like the other leaf vegetables (lettuce, rocket, corn salad, spinach), salads are among the plants naturally most concentrated in nitrates, whose content varies with the season and growing conditions; good washing and removing the large ribs reduce the load (food-safety services). Caution in case of a known allergy to Asteraceae for the lettuce- or chicory-type components.
Family behaviour: Asteraceae
In general, Asteraceae are a family rich in flowers appreciated by pollinators and beneficials (pot marigold, yarrow, chamomile). It is very scattered, from the mildest lettuce to the allelopathic sunflower.
Understanding families means learning one rule per family rather than every pairing one by one. Learn more →
Species & varieties
The best-known species and varieties in France.