LETTUCE-MINERS
LETTUCE-MINERS
A$3.50
Availability: 171 in stock
Claytonia perfoliata
LETTUCE-MINERS is a cool-weather salad green with small plants that prefer to grow autumn through spring, and/or in part-shade, & will regrow after multiple harvests. Miner’s lettuce, a wild green superfood. Almost heart-shaped leaves grow in pairs to 2.5-5 cm wide. Satisfying succulent texture with a sweet mild flavor. Miners used to eat the plant as salad greens, as well as the edible blossoms and stems of the plant. All these portions of the can are eaten either raw or cooked & are a great source of vitamin C. The common name refers to its history of being eaten by miners in the 1840’s California Gold Rush to help prevent scurvy. Most frequently eaten raw but can also be cooked. If you don’t harvest it all, it will self-seed readily. A single salad of miner’s lettuce can provide up to a 1/3 of your daily vitamin C, 1/5 of your daily vitamin A, and a 10th of your daily iron. Aka, Indian Lettuce, Winter Purslane, Spring Beauty.
| Germination Time (Days) | 6 – 12 |
| Harvest Time (Days) | 60 – 90 |
| Sowing Depth (mm) | 5 |
| Plant Spacing (cm) | 20 – 30 |
| Row Spacing (cm) | 20 – 30 |
| pH | 6 – 7.5 |
| Soil Temperature (°C) | – |
| Hardy / Frost Tender | Hardy |
| Sow Direct / Raise Seedlings | Sow Direct / Raise Seedlings |
| Seed Preparation | – |
Scoville Heat Units (SHU)
Plant Height
10 - 15 cm (4 - 6 inches)
Season of Interest
Spring, Autumn, Winter
Temperature Range
5 - 20 °C
Determine / Indeterminate
Annual / Perennial / Biennial
Annual
Frost Hardy / Tender
Frost Hardy
Full Sun / Part Sun / Shade
Part Shade
Sow Direct / Raise Seedlings
Sow direct
Soil
Moist, well-drained soil
pH
6.0 - 7.0
Soil Temperature
10 - 16 °C (50 - 61 °F)
Seed Preparation
No preparation required
Sowing Depth
0.5 cm (¼ inch)
Plant Spacing
10 - 15 cm (4 - 6 inches)
Row spacing
15 - 20 cm (6 - 8 inches)
Watering
Moderate, avoid waterlogging
Germination Time (Days)
7- 14 days
Harvest Time (Days)
40 - 50 days
Good Companion Plants
Radishes, Carrots, Spinach
Bad Companion Plants
Onions, Garlic
Pests
Aphids, Slugs
Diseases
Downy Mildew, Powdery Mildew
More About Us
When I started this journey in 2009, I found nothing existed commercially, that was reasonably priced and easy to use. There was a homemade system which I also found was not that user-friendly.
Then a friend of mine told me about a homemade method she used. However, when I tried her method, I found this also didn’t suit my needs, as it too had flaws that I considered where important. It did not keep vermin out, did not have a lockable lid and (to me) looked unsightly in the garden
