Plant of the Week: Lettuce

Homegrown lettuce is a revelation. Packed with flavour, crunchy and sweet, when you first bite into a lettuce leaf fresh-cut from the garden it’ll spoil you for shop-bought forever.

Traditional varieties like Little Gem and icebergs have twice the flavour when eaten this fresh. And you can try dozens of lettuces you can’t even grow in the shops, from big bronze butterheads to arrow-straight romaines in green or burgundy. Fast-growing, great value and easy to grow, they’re just as happy in containers or in the open ground; just sow every few weeks from March to October for a constant supply twelve months of the year.