Lettuce 'Red Salad Bowl' (Lactuca sativa) – Cut-and-Come-Again Salad Crop (12 Plants in 2 x 6-Cell Trays)

Red Salad Bowl lettuce is a classic oak-leaf, loose-leaf lettuce that forms a generous rosette of deeply lobed, frilled leaves in rich red to bronze-red. It is a firm favourite with home growers because it is cut-and-come-again: pick the outer leaves and the plant keeps producing fresh salad from the centre through the season.

This is a fast-growing, easy salad crop for beginners and experienced kitchen gardeners alike. Salad leaves can be ready in as little as 6 to 8 weeks from planting, and the plants suit raised beds, vegetable plots and patio containers or troughs.

You receive 12 young lettuce plants, growing in 2 plastic 6-cell trays with one plant to each cell, ready to plant out. Lettuce is not hardy, so plant out once the risk of frost has passed, in a spot with full sun to partial shade and moist, fertile soil or compost. A little shade in high summer helps.

Keep the soil steadily moist but not waterlogged, and harvest the outer leaves as you need them. In hot, dry weather lettuce can run to seed (bolt) and turn bitter, so steady watering matters. Sowing or planting a few more every few weeks gives a longer supply through spring, summer and autumn.

Cultural Information

• Common Name: Red Salad Bowl Lettuce, Loose-Leaf Lettuce
• Botanical Name: Lactuca sativa
• Fully Grown Height and Spread: Approx. 20-30cm tall and 20-30cm wide
• Growth Habit: Open, spreading rosette of deeply lobed, frilled leaves
• Perfect For: Raised beds, patio containers, allotments and kitchen gardens
• Foliage: Deep red to bronze-red, oak-leaf shaped
• Planting Position: Full sun to partial shade
• Soil Type: Moist, fertile soil or compost
• Hardiness: Not hardy, protect from frost
• Maintenance: Water regularly and harvest the outer leaves often
• Seasonal Interest: Summer to autumn crop
• Type: Cut-and-come-again loose-leaf lettuce