Last little gem lettuce

Little Gem lettuce

So this is the last little gem lettuce, and frankly I'm glad.  I've eaten so many of these damn things I'm fed up with them, and they did not turn out as the seed packet promised.  I shan't be growing them again.

On the plus side, I have today planted some more interesting plants - being japanese radishes in the place of the lettuce.

Last few little gem lettuces

We've been steadily eating and giving away to friends and family our crop of little gem lettuces.

This is one of three that currently remain.

I'm resigned to the fact that they will never grow to resemble the picture on the packet, but still have no idea why not.  They were certainly tasty enough though!

Little Gem lettuce - maybe growing a head?

So my problem with the little gem lettuce not growing according to plan, maybe me being a little too over eager for results.  This is how it is looking now, after 10 weeks.

Little Gem lettuce after 10 weeks

You can see the centre of the lettuce is closing up a little, and maybe, just maybe forming a small little gem lettuce head in the middle.  I'll just have to wait a little longer to see, thankfully despite eating lots of these and the Tom Thumb lettuce over the past few weeks, we still have loads left and so I can let these grow and grow without fear of them getting eaten before they reach maturity.


Remember to click on the "Little Gem Lettuce" link on the right of this page or directly at the bottom of this post to see week by week how the lettuce has grown from seed to the date of harvest.

Tasty - but still not what I expected

The lettuces continue to thrive, but I am still bemused by how unlike all other pictures of little gem lettuce mine appear to be.  Perhaps I got a dodgy packet of seed.

Still looks nothing like the seed packet does it?!

Little Gem Lettuce - still no head

So my little gem lettuce looks like this almost 2 months after planting.

Little Gem lettuce after 2 months

The lettuce is tasty and growing well, so no complaints really, but this is the picture on the packet of seeds I bought, and what I was expecting the lettuce to look like.

Little Gem lettuce as per the Marshalls seeds packet

Pretty different huh?  Mine have pretty loose leaves and not in any way tightly packed.  The ones that should have grown are tight little heads of lettuce.  Perhaps they will still develop into something like this, who knows!

Here's another view from above to show the complete lack of any tightly packed leaves.

Little Gem lettuce 2 months after planting - view from above

The lettuces are definitely tasty, but I'm just left wondering whether I got funny seeds, the wrong seeds, or whether I'm just such a rubbish gardener that normal seeds grow differently to everywhere else when under my control.

Remember to click on the "Little Gem Lettuce" link on the right of this page or directly at the bottom of this post to see week by week how the lettuce has grown from seed to the date of harvest.

Tom Thumb Lettuce and Little Gem Lettuce

I wanted to grow a type of lettuce as they seemed fast and easy to grow, which appealed as it gives less scope for messing it up.

Little gem and Tom Thumb lettuce was chosen as I could squeeze a few more in in my small plot, and the packets said even kids could grow them, which gave me a little confidence.

Originally planted on 12th March, the first seedlings came through on 25th March.  At 7 weeks, the two lettuces are below.  I'm not sure how big they should get, but have already had a couple of the tom thumb lettuces as they looked a bit overcrowded, but each lettuce was only just about enough for a garnish in a sandwich.  I'm hoping they can continue to grow a bit more.

tom thumb lettuce (left) and little gem lettuce (right)

I was expecting the little gem lettuce to be tightly packed leaves, like how you get them in the supermarket, but so far the leaves are all fairly open.  Perhaps as they grow they will form more of a head?

The Tom Thumb lettuces are very tasty, but still very small.  Hopefully I'll be able to resist picking them all until they get a little bigger.

Tom Thumb lettuce at 7 weeks