Red Salad Bowl is a quick-maturing loose-leaf lettuce that delivers tender, flavorful leaves in just 50 days. This red-leafed cultivar grows to a compact 10 inches tall and wide, making it equally at home in garden beds or containers. The variety thrives in full sun with moderate water and slightly acidic to neutral soil (pH 6.0-7.0), tolerating light frosts that extend your harvest window into shoulder seasons. Its real strength lies in its responsiveness to cut-and-come-again harvesting; leaves stay delicate and delicious even as the plant matures, rewarding patient, selective picking with weeks of continuous production.
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Full Sun
Moderate
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10in H x 10in W
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Moderate
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Red Salad Bowl earns its place as a workhorse of the salad garden through sheer reliability and flavor longevity. Unlike many loose-leaf varieties that turn tough and bitter as they age, this red-leafed type maintains its tender texture and clean taste through repeated harvests. The compact growth habit means you can tuck several plants into tight spaces, while the 50-day timeline lets you sow every two to three weeks for an unbroken supply of fresh leaves from late spring through summer.
Red Salad Bowl shines in fresh salads where its tender leaves and mild flavor shine alongside other greens, vinaigrettes, and fresh vegetables. The leaves work well for cut-and-come-again harvesting, where you pick individual outer leaves throughout the plant's life rather than harvesting the entire head at once. This selective picking method extends your harvest period significantly, making the variety excellent for home gardeners who want continuous salad greens from a single planting.
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Start seeds indoors 4 to 6 weeks before your anticipated transplant date. This timing allows seedlings to develop strong root systems and true leaves before moving to the garden.
Transplant seedlings outdoors once they've developed 2 to 3 true leaves. Space plants 1 inch apart in rows 16 inches apart, or adjust spacing based on your specific source's recommendations if you prefer wider spacing.
Direct sow seeds beginning about 4 weeks before your last frost date for spring harvests. You can continue sowing every 2 to 3 weeks through summer, though timing becomes critical as temperatures rise. Use row cover to improve germination and prevent soil crusting. As soon as 2 to 3 true leaves form, thin seedlings to your desired spacing.
Begin harvesting individual leaves once the plant has developed enough foliage to sustain itself, typically 4 to 6 weeks after planting. Pick outer leaves from the base of the plant, working your way inward and allowing inner leaves to continue growing. This cut-and-come-again approach extends your harvest across many weeks. Check plants daily during peak season, as lettuce leaves become progressively more bitter as the plant approaches bolting. Harvest promptly during warm periods to beat bolting, especially for late-spring and summer sowings. You may also cut the entire plant about 1 inch above the soil for a single large harvest, though selective leaf picking maximizes your total yield.
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