From Asian greens to winter lettuce: the salad leaves your garden needs
Salad leaves are a truly multi-talented garden crop – they can be tender, spicy or crispy, ranging from classic lettuces and rocket salad across an astonishing range of different varieties, leaf shapes and flavours. Some are great for growing a quick crop in spring – others will survive the first frosts and give you fresh green leaves through into winter.
In this post we’re taking a look at twelve different salad categories – from classics like butterhead and romaine lettuce through to exciting options like Asian greens and chicory. Perfect for anyone wanting not just to grow things in a garden or on a balcony – but to make new discoveries, too.
1. Why variety is key
By sowing different salads you can harvest more than just leaves – choose your crops carefully and you can spice up your meals, improve your soil and harvest as and when you please – taking whole lettuce heads at once or picking crops leaf by leaf over several weeks.
Variety bears fruit in various ways:
- Flavour: from mild to nutty, spicy or pleasantly bitter
- Growth: fast-growing varieties for spring, heat-tolerant varieties for summer, frost-hardy salads for autumn and winter.
- Use: salad as baby leaves, main dishes, garnishes or in wild herb mixes
2. The main salad types – an overview
Here’s a selection of twelve different lettuce and salad green categories – each with a short description and some tried and trusted varieties for home growing:
Asian greens
Spicy, fast-growing salad leaves from East Asia, perfect as a cut-and-come-again crop.
Varieties: mizuna, tatsoi, komatsuna, Red Giant mustard
Baby leaf salad
The leaves of different vegetables which are harvested while they are still very young and tender.
Varieties: baby spinach, rocket salad, chard, oak leaf lettuce
Romaine (Cos) lettuce
Tall upright lettuce heads with crispy leaves.
Varieties: Little Gem, Lobjoits Green Cos, Valmaine
Butterhead lettuce
Loose heads and soft, mild-tasting leaves.
Varieties: May Queen, Buttercrunch, Marvel of Four Seasons
Salad endive
Autumn salad with a slightly bitter flavour, in smooth and curly varieties.
Varieties: Wallonne, Frisée, Escariol
Asparagus lettuce
Grown for its thick stems, also known as celtuce.
Varieties: celtuce, asparagus lettuce
Wild herb salad
Mix of edible wild plants with punchy flavours.
Species: dandelion, ground elder, sorrel, chickweed
Winter salad
Frost-tolerant varieties for late autumn and winter harvests.
Varieties: winter lettuce, lamb’s lettuce, leaf chicory
Chicory salad
Aromatic salads with a distinctive bitter flavour.
Varieties: radicchio, Chioggia, leaf chicory, Catalogna
Loose leaf lettuce
Lettuces that don’t form heads – leaves can be harvested repeatedly.
Varieties: Lollo Rosso, Red Salad Bowl, Green Oakleaf
Crisphead (Iceberg) lettuce
Firm head, crispy leaves with a high water content.
Varieties: Iceberg, Saladin, Great Lakes
Batavia lettuce
Combines crispiness with tender leaves; heat-resistant.
Varieties: Maravilla de Verano, Rouge Grenobloise, Baquieu
3. Salads for all seasons: which varieties work when
Choosing the right variety is very season-dependent:
| Season | Best salads |
|---|---|
| Spring | Butterhead, loose leaf lettuce, Asian greens, baby leaf salad |
| Summer | Romaine, batavia, crisphead |
| Autumn | Endive, chicory, Asian greens |
| Winter | Lamb’s lettuce, leaf chicory, winter endives |
Tip: Sow plants indoors or in a cold frame for a super-early start.
4. Growing tips
- Location: Most lettuces and salad greens prefer full sun or half-shade with loose, nutrient-rich soil.
- Sowing: Sow regularly at close intervals for a continuous harvest.
- Plant care: Keep evenly moist and protect from slugs and snails. For head and romaine lettuces ensure plants are well spaced apart.
- Harvest: Harvest individual leaves with loose-leaf and baby-leaf salads – and harvest the whole plant at once with head lettuces.
To sum up: variety starts with the seeds
Look beyond the standard round lettuce and you quickly realise that salad is anything but boring. Choose the right varieties and your growing space becomes an aromatic playground of flavours and textures – mild, bitter, spicy, crispy. At the same time you’re supporting biodiversity in your garden – and you can be harvesting fresh leaves all through the year.
To find out more just take a look at our garden glossary where you’ll find all the different types of lettuce and salad greens along with recommended varieties and growing tips – expert gardening advice in a clear and compact format.
