Yep, the title says it all. I really have lettuce growing among the weeds in one of my garden beds. I planted it in the fall and despite a few nights of subzero temperatures and several cumulative inches of snow over the course of winter it’s still there! The lettuce is small, barely even 3 inches wide but it’s there! It’s the reddish purple leaves you see hiding among the chickweed and henbit. I’ll bet you want to know what lettuce can withstand that kind of cold and snow here in Tennessee?
I won’t keep it a secret. It’s an heirloom lettuce called Rouge D’Hiver that I bought from Baker Creek. Rouge D’Hiver heirloom lettuce seems to be extremely cold tolerant. I suspect if I had gotten around to putting a cold frame over this bed I would have been munching on backyard garden lettuce all winter. Once the warmer weather hits and the lettuce starts to grow I’ll have some early harvests from the vegetable garden!
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It's just such a treat to see *anything* growing this time of year! It won't be long now…
Some of those lettuces can sure be tough. And you're so lucky to see ANYTHING green and growing. It's been a LONG winter………
Dave,
I had to look real hard to see it. Yep a cold frame you'd be have salad or green every night like we are doing right now.
BTW those weeds look exactly like to ones going in our lettuce.
Nancy – you are soooo right!
Sure – They can be although I'm surprised it hasn't died this winter, our cold days have been pretty unbelievable. LONG indeed!
Randy – I was thinking of your cold frames as I wrote this and decided that I have to do this for fall! I may make some recycled cloches from milk jugs to encourage them along a bit.
That's a very hardly lettuce-awesome! You've got a head start!
Tina – One good pun deserves another? 😉
I have lettuce and spinach still hanging on in containers on my deck!
What a delightful surprise…the weeds have probably been protecting it..
Great, love that lettuce. Need to resow mine.
It IS a treat to see something growing outside…meanwhile, the snowdrifts here just get deeper and deeper and deeper…
Hi Dave — I just found your blog via Colleen's In the Garden Online. Thanks for sharing the info about Rouge D'Hiver. I'm always looking for a cold hearty heirloom lettuce. How does it taste? Maybe there's not enough there to make a salad.
Ginny – I should have done the same!
Darla – It was a good surprise – I'm not sure that the weeds are tall enough though!
Lola – I bet now is a good time in Florida!
Jodi – I'm sorry you all have so much snow right now. I'm way over winter and definitely don't want more snow here.
Bill – It is delicious! I prefer the Romaines generally and this one beats our most of the green lettuce varieties for taste. I grew it last spring and had a pretty good crop going until the deer came along. We did get something out of it though!