Asteraceae - The Lettuce Family
Asteraceae – The Lettuce Family
Vegetables in the Asteraceae family can range from compact annual lettuces to the magnificent perennial, the globe artichoke, which can grow to 8ft.(2.5m) tall. Depending on the crop the leaves, flower buds, roots, shoots, and stems can be eaten.
Lettuce is the most widely grown member of the Asteraceae family along with chicory and endive. With their wide variety of leaf colors and shapes all three can be very decorative and can be used as ‘edible landscape in any organic garden. Some lettuce cultivars produce a hearted lettuce. Leaves can be picked from the looseleaf types over several weeks. Chicory and endive are often blanched to reduce their bitterness. Chicory roots can be forced to produce pale young shoots known as chicons. Using a selection of cultivars and cloche protection, these crops can provide leafy salad all year round. They also grow well in unheated greenhouses and are useful as seedling crops when interplanting, as well as growing in containers. Jerusalem artichokes are simple to grow, producing starchy edible tubers and steps up to 8ft(2.5m) tall. Some cultivars produce a rather unexpected ‘sunflower’ with the characteristics from that family. Perennial artichokes and cardoons are very similar in appearance and produce large thistle-like blooms if allowed to flower. The stems of the cardoon are blanched in autumn while the flower of the globe artichoke are eaten in early summer.
The plants of the Asteraceae family prefer well-drained soils. The leafy crops can be fitted in small plots or amongst ornamental plants. Cardoons and globe artichokes need a lot of space and would not look out of place in an ornamental border. The roots can join other root crops in a crop rotation. Jerusalem artichokes make a good windbreak. Lettuce is the most pest and disease prone member of the Asteraceae family. Common pest include slugs, outworm, leaf aphids, and root aphids. Young plants can be protected by barriers and traps. Undercover, downy mildew and gray mold can be a real problem, especially in cool damp conditions. Crop rotation, good hygiene and ventilation can reduce this problem.
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