Lettuce Special

Lettuce is a leaf vegetable that we are all very familiar with. Lettuce was first cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, who turned it from a weed, whose seeds were used to produce oil, into a plant grown for its leaves. Lettuce spread to the Greeks and Romans, who gave it the name ´lactuca´, from which the English lettuce is derived.

There are many different varieties of lettuce.  Lettuce grows almost year round, when the temperature is not too high.  High temperatures cause the plant to flower and set seed. The following varieties we have in the garden this spring:

The Iceberg lettuce is well known for its crispy texture and slightly sweet taste. Although the head keeps well for a week after harvesting, the cut surface and any small damage will color brown after a few hours. Leaves that have suffered some damage you can remove, the underlying leaves will look fresh and green. It is, however, important to handle iceberg lettuce carefully in order to avoid discoloration.

Oak leaf lettuce is a beautiful lettuce, which grows very well in the Extremadura. The leaves look like oak leaves in autumn. They are reddish brown on the edges and fresh green at the base. This lettuce is quite crisp, with a soft nutty taste.

The lettuce variety ‘quatro estaciones’ has a deep red color on the outside of the head and light green on the inside. It is a lettuce variety that can be grown throughout the year, but is on its best at the end of winter and beginning of spring.

Romaine or cos lettuce is a crisp variety that is either sold as an open head or as a light green center. The latter is achieved by tying a band on the growing plant. After harvesting the dark outer leaves are removed, leaving a light green lettuce, firmly packed. Romaine is the main ingredient of Cesar Salad. 

The variety ‘Reina de Mayo’ is a butter-head type of lettuce and is a typical lettuce of late spring (as the name suggest). The tender leaves form a loose head and have a soft buttery flavor.





The last lettuce variety I want to mention is a local variety. A friendly neighbour gave us the seedlings. Since people have been growing improved lettuce varieties next to their indigenous variety, the lettuce shows many forms and colors. There are however two primary types to be recognized: the open head type and the closed head type. Both types you see below 

 

Although there are many more lettuce varieties, these six are currently grown in our gardens. Except for the iceberg lettuce, which is best eaten when matured, the young leaves of plants are excellent in a salad mix. From every crop that we sow, we offer a part for sale in a salad mix. The rest is transplanted and harvested when mature.

There is one salad type vegetable that is often confused with lettuce, the Frisée. Frisée is a type of endive (or chicory), i.e. curly endive. Endive has a slightly bitter taste and complements the taste of other lettuces well. It can also be cooked or stir fried like spinach. The bitter taste will be more pronounced when cooked. 


All lettuce varieties do well when combined. You can use the young or baby leaves or the crispy leaves in the center of lettuces. If you want to vary your salads you can add spinach leaves, young swiss chard,  (red) cabbage and or carrots.

Spring vegetables in April

La Tierra Verde is a small scale market garden. We grow seasonal crops. Although some vegetables are available all year round, most vegetables have their own growing season. Because of the climate in the Extremadura the crops are mainly grown in open ground. A few plastic tunnels protect a number of vegetables from the cold weather in spring. When the sun starts to get stronger, the plastic is removed from the tunnels, and if necessary replaced by shade cloth. The plastic and shade cloth tunnels are mainly used for seedlings.

The list below is a prediction. Due to weather conditions we cannot guarantee when a crop is ready, or if it is available.

•  Snow peas
•  Lettuce (see the Lettuce Special)
•  Spring onions
•  Leek
•  Spinach
•  Swiss chard
•  Radish
•  Turnip tops
•  Rucola

What and who is La Tierra Verde

My name is Jantien Henriet and I set up La Tierra Verde Hortalizas Ecologicas in March 2012.  La Tierra Verde grows vegetables and herbs in an ecological way. We have a high regard of the natural environment and our goal is to produce without harming flora or fauna. The gardens of La Tierra Verde are established in old olive groves around Alcuéscar in the province of Cáceres.





Currently there are two gardens in use. The first and longest in production is a borrowed garden in Martin Laguna. A very nice couple from Alcuéscar let us use the open spaces between the olive trees to grow vegetables. The area under vegetables measures approx. 1500m². For a serious market garden, this area is too small. Another olive grove in Malvecino was bought in July. This second terrain  measures 7500m² and about 2/3 of this will be eventually under vegetables, herbs, forest fruits and fruit trees.

The terrain Malvecino was abandoned for many years and very much overgrown with brambles. In October the brambles were removed with the help of an excavator. After that the land was ploughed. Step by step the garden begins to look like a market garden.

We sell fresh vegetables and herbs on a weekly basis to a number of households in the area of Alcuéscar and Montánchez. Since the garden in Malvecino is still in the early stages of production, the vegetables are coming from the garden in Martin Laguna. As it is still winter we have a number of winter vegetables.

At this moment La Tierra Verde has no ecological certification, but  is working to get it. However, it takes at least 3 years to get certified, due to the monitoring process of the CAEX (Comité de Agricultura Ecológica de Extremadura). We guarantee that we are not using any chemical fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides or fungicides on our crops other than are allowed under the rules and regulations of the European Commission.