Long-Lived Lettuces

The weather in Fleet has been pretty mild for the time of year, so far, and I still have a fair few salad plants on the go. In fact, the endives are probably at their best right now. The ones I grew in the Summer didn't do very well. They mostly bolted before producing a worthwhile harvest. With the advent of cooler but not freezing weather the Autumn endives have really taken off. I also have a lot of lettuces still, of several different types. I have them underneath a layer of fleece now, so they will be OK for a couple more weeks at least.

On Saturday, having been away for several days during the week (and therefore pining for fresh veg, particularly salad) I harvested a few of the lettuces and another endive for our dinner. Here's a picture:

Three types of lettuce and a Curly Endive

I had a close look at all the salads under their fleece covers, and found that many of them had a few brown, mouldy leaves -- perhaps a bit of botyritis-type mould. Nothing too serious, but just to be on the safe side I decided to give them an airing. I opened-up the fleece covers, removed the damaged leaves and left the plants exposed for a few hours. I hope this will have helped.

The Rossa di Verona chicories are coming on nicely. They won't be ready for a while yet (though we could already eat them as baby salad leaves, I suppose), but their colour is turning darker now. In due course they will form dense hearts.

"Rossa di Verona" chicories

Chocory and Endive side by side

Some different types of Chicory, from a mixed pack

BTW: I'm still hoping somebody will help me to conclusively identify the one on the right in the picture above -- the one with the long serrated leaves. Any ideas? (Any Italian readers out there, maybe?)