Italienischer Lettuce

So many of our favorite garden varieties are named after other nations: Polish tomatoes, Hungarian peppers, watermelons from Saskatchewan. When we talk about locally-grown food, we must remember that most seed has traveled thousands of miles and back again before landing in our gardens. The name of this exquisite lettuce, which is huge, sweet, and slow to bolt, means "Italian" in German: proof that gardens everywhere are cosmopolitan gathering spots of plants from around the globe.

Italienischer boasts stellar performance, great flavor, and huge proportions. This is our favorite "thin and eat" variety: the heads get so large that we harvest every other when they are spaced 10" apart to let the remaining ones reach their pull potential.