Lettuce Variety Roundup Review

 This is a post that will get added to over the months and years as I grow various different varieties.  This is my personal thoughts and preferences; everyone will have their own, so just because I don't like a variety, doesn't mean you shouldn't try it for yourself!

If you don't really want to read the specific reviews for each variety, here are my favorites/recommendations, roughly in order:

• Marvel of 4 Seasons
• Red Sails
• Any of the Romaines (Romaine, Rouge d'Hiver, Parris Island)
• Black Seeded Simpson
• Mustard Greens (IF you like wasabi-like spiciness)
• Deer Tongue
• Tatsoi (if you have room, not great for small gardens)
  
• Mizuna (again, if you like the spiciness)
  

Non-AG:

• Buttercrunch
• Green Ice
• Ruby
• Batavian Rouge
• Blonde Romaine
• Komatsuna
• Lollo Rossa
• Little Gem
• Queen of Crunch (if crunch is one of your priorities)
  

AeroGarden Offered Varieties

 

Arugula

Although I normally like arugula, I have been singularly unimpressed with the arugula  I've grown in the AeroGarden, and I've tried it a few times now.  It had almost none of the spiciness I love about arugula, and the remaining flavor was just...  concentrated grass.  It was not appetizing.  (My parrot, on the other hand, loved it, so at least it didn't go to waste!)  I'm not sure if this was due to the specific variety AG offers, or if it just doesn't really like being grown hydroponically.

Baby Greens

The combo pods AG offers are a decent way to try multiple different greens in limited space, such as in a Harvest.  However, because in order to get said variety, you really need to keep all the plants, none of them grow as large or impressively as in pods where you can thin down to just 1 or 2 plants.  This particular blend includes arugula, mizuna, kale, tatsoi, and mustard.

Beet Greens

I have not actually grown this variety, as in my experience, they tend to be both tough and bitter eaten raw - not my favorite qualities.

Black Seeded Simpson

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with black seeded simpson.  When new and young, I love the taste best out of all the lettuces that AG offers.  However, it is always the first to bolt, and it gets very bitter very fast, before it shows any other signs of bolting, so suddenly I'll have a full head of virtually inedible lettuce. 

This particular grow the leaves were very rounded; usually they are a bit more frilly edged.

Bok Choi

Another variety I haven't tried yet.  Most of my experience with Bok Choi is cooked, and I grow for salads.

Chinese Cabbage

Again, a variety I haven't grown since I have only seen it prepared cooked, not in salads.

Collard Greens

Likewise, not really a salad green.

Deer Tongue

This is another lettuce variety I have somewhat mixed feelings about.  The leaves are thick and buttery with a good flavor, but they are very small, making  it a somewhat frustrating harvest.  It has generally been one of the slower bolters for me, though, which is a big plus.  It can often be a bit slow to get going.  Ultimately, I include it in most of my grows, but usually only one pod.

Dinosaur Kale

I dislike the taste of raw kale, so I do not include it in my salad grows.  Also, dinosaur kale especially can get significantly larger than regular salad greens.

Marvel of 4 Seasons

I think this is possibly my favorite of the lettuces offered by AeroGarden.  It's often looked down on because it is slower to sprout than other varieties, but that's largely because it is a butterhead variety - the only one AG offers, since it is very open and responds well to cut-and-come-again growing, unlike most butterheads.  As one might expect, the flavor is smooth and sweet, and the leaves are tender but with pleasantly crunchy ribs.  Decently slow to bolt, though not the best.

 

 

Mixed Kale

Just as with the dinosaur kale, I do not like kale raw, so I have not grown this pod offering.

Mizuna

This is another one I have somewhat mixed feelings about.  If you like it, it's a fabulous choice to grow, as it is massively prolific, and relatively slow to bolt (and, like most of the mustard family, only get slightly more bitter but still quite edible even when it does bolt).  I love the wasabi-like peppery heat, but it is not nearly as strong as other mustards, and the flavor that is 'left behind' in the absence of that pepperiness is a bit too grasslike for my tastes.  Still, I frequently include a pod in my grows, simply because it is so prolific.  Also, like most mustardy greens, it cooks beautifully.

Mustard

The fact that I absolutely love raw mustard greens is a very new discovery for me. It tastes like wasabi!  For me, being that I am allergic to capsaicin (the chemical that makes hot peppers hot), any kind of spiciness is sorely lacking in my life.  So the places I can get a bit of heat, are treasured.  Wasabi is one of those places, and now mustard greens are too.  Unfortunately, it's not as prolific as some of the other varieties, but one pod is still enough to have a leaf or two with every salad, giving the occasional spicy bite in my salad.  The leaves do get tough as they get older, so keep this variety well-picked.  And, of course, it sautees beautifully if you get enough to make it worthwhile.

Red Mustard, along with some insanely frilly mustard variety I wish I knew the name of!

Parris Island

This is another variety of romaine.  It is a bit smaller-leaved than its big brother, and has more pronounced veining throughout the leaves, giving it a sturdier and crunchier texture.  Like most romaines, the flavor is unexciting, but perfectly fine.  However, their greatest strength is their staying power - the romaines are always the last to bolt for me.  In fact, I usually end up cutting them stll unbolted, because everything else is long gone.

 

Red Sails

Another much like Marvel that is both among my favorites, and rather unique among the varieties offered by AG, being a "ribless" leaf lettuce - rather than a pronounced rib in the center, the veins are dispersed evenly through the leaf, which are broad and frilly.  It isn't the best at anything, but it's good at everything.  Crisp but not crunchy, good flavor, reasonably prolific, and slow to bolt.

Romaine

This romaine is not quite the variety you think of from the grocery store; it is more compact, yet open, which is ideal for AG-growing, and the ribs are not as pronounced.  Still, it has a familiar - if unexciting - taste and crispness to the leaves.  It is also always my last to bolt, often cutting a still fully edible head when everything else has gone bitter.

Rouge d'Hiver

The third of the romaine trio that AG offers.  The ribs are even less pronounced than the 'regular' romaine, and as such can sometimes end up a bit limp, at least by comparison to the other two romaines - it's still more crisp than most other varieties.  The flavor is a bit richer, but still on par.  The color, ranging from a bronzy-green to an intense crimson, is quite lovely in a mixed salad, however. 

Salad Greens

The other combo pod of salad greens that AG offers.  It has the same benefits, and drawbacks, of the Baby Greens pod - it's a good way to maximise varieties in a small space, but to take advantage of that, you can't really thin them, which can lead to crowded conditions and smaller growth.  As for the varieties included, AG simply says: "red/green leaf, romaine, and butter head".  I imagine this means black seeded simpson, red sails, marvel of 4 seasons, and the three romaine varieties (romaine, parris island, and rouge d'hiver).  My latest pod has red sails and parris island.

Tatsoi

Tatsoi is one of the stranger greens I've ever grown.  It has small round leaves on the end of long stalks, that grow in an extremely flat head.  The leaves are thick and fleshy but crisp, intensely dark green, with a mild mustardy spiciness but lacking the 'grassy' aftertaste.  Because the individual leaves are so small, it can be a bit frustrating, but it grows quickly and prolifically, and is slow to bolt, so it is well worthwhile including in a grow if you aren't limited on space.  It has become one of my favorite staples, because in addition to being lovely in salads, it is lovely cooked as well, very similar to spinach but a bit more of a 'lively' bitterness - not at all to unpleasant, just a little more intense than spinach.

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Other Varieties

I've tried an assortment of other lettuce varieties, and will compile notes here as I try new ones.

Burpee Bibb

This was very much an experiment; I knew it was a 'single head' variety, but I thought I would see what it would do.  It is definitely a tight head, and with just my little desk fan, many of the leaves ended up with browned edges.  The texture and flavor was quite nice, but unsurprisingly, it bolted super fast, the first one at just 65 days.  (My lettuces frequently last over 100.)  I would definitely grow them outside in succession planting, but it's just not really suited to an AG growing and cut-and-come-again harvesting.

Buttercrunch

So far, I've been very impressed with this variety.  It's been nicely prolific with the wonderful butter-lettuce flavor and the leaves are thick and smooth with decent crispness.  Unlike the Burpee Bibb, it doesn't grow in such tight heads that my fan can't move the leaves and help with transpiration.  It was still going strong when I ended my grow, so I will definitely be including it in future grows.

Green Ice

This has been a fun little addition to my garden - and I do mean little.  Although the stats say 9-15 inches, mine has stayed very cute and compact.  Excellent sweet flavor with pretty, bright yellowish-green leaves, it's a wonderful counterpoint to Red Sails.  Was still fine when I ended the grow.  Will likely include this one in future grows.

Spring 2022 Update:

I tried lots of new varieties in this grow!  Some were duds, some were stars, some were merely indifferent - as one would expect!

 

Outredgeous 

This one was absolutely gorgeous.  The color is deep and intense, even more than you can tell in pics.  The flavor was very robust, but just a tad bitter.  Unfortunately, it was the first one to bolt.  It also clearly wanted to get much larger than it was able in an AG.  Overall, I will probably not grow it again, at least not in an AG (it might do better in the Gardyn where it has a little more room to spread out.)

Worth noting: Mine looked nothing like the pictures.  The pictures were a distinctly oak-leaf variety.  Mine were large solid ovals.  Not sure if I somehow got the wrong seeds, or what.

Queen of Crunch

I would probably call it a bit more like 'queen of chew' - but it definitely not limp!  It has exceptionally firm leaves, moreso than any other green I've encountered, even chards and kales.  It literally felt like little sheets of balsa wood!  But, as I mentioned, it was more chewy than crisp.  The flavor was very neutral, neither interesting or offputting in any particular way.  Definitely worth growing if you dislike limp lettuce, but probably not by itself; better to blend it with other, more interesting varieties.

Lollo Rossa

This was one of my favorites from this grow.  It got frillier as it matured more, but maintained this delicate but vibrant rosy salmon-pink color, with hints of deeper purplish red at the tips where it was in full light.  It was a little hard to pick the leaves, because they were so frilly - it was hard to 'find' a single leaf; it also stayed on the smaller side.  The flavor was as outstanding as the appearance, very much 'what I expect' from a red leaf lettuce, full, faintly sweet, and no bitterness.

 

Gustav's Salad

This is another I will not be growing in hydroponics again.  It might be quite lovely grown outside, but it struggled from beginning to end in the AG.  It is much too tightly heading; even with a fan on it 24/7 I was getting lots of necrotic edges.  The flavor was decidedly unimpressive, tending towards bitterness.

Flashy Gem Lettuce

Not amazing, but a good 'workhorse' lettuce with some visual interest (it got even more of that bronze blush on the edges as it matured.)  Flavor was neutral.  I will probably include it in future grows as filler, but won't specifically seek it out.

 

Little Gem

For a lettuce that is so often praised, I was expecting a little more of a 'wow' factor.  It was...  fine?  Nothing exceptional any which way, though it did grow steadily and with no fuss.  If you are after 'just lettuce' with a minimal of trouble, it's a good choice.  If you want something more interesting, either visually or flavor profile, not so much.  Another I will willingly use to fill in empty spots but won't specifically seek out.

Batavian Blush Trio

(from Renee's Garden)

Despite trying to pick seeds that looked different, I seem to have gotten only one variety (Rossia, I believe).  That said, it's a perfectly lovely variety, and I would happily grow it again.  Flavor was wonderful, full and sweet, with just a hint of bitter edge - not at all enough to make it unpleasant, though.  Leaves were thick and crisp.  

Komatsuna

This was probably the biggest star of this grow!  The leaves are massive.  It's very un-fussy, and slow to bolt (as most mustards are).  Raw, it tastes and behaves much like a rather umami spinach in a salad, with a lovely nutty overtone.  Cooked, it is clearly not spinach, though; the umami/nutty flavor is even more pronounced, more reminiscent of kale than spinach.  Still quite tasty though.  Did I mention the leaves are huge? (Yes, that is my fully spread hand behind the single leaf, which as you can see is a fair bit longer than my hand.)  I will definitely be including it in most grows.

Blonde Romaine

This was a very vigorous and productive variety.  The flavor was quite good and very sweet for a romaine, which I often find watery and boring.  Nicely crunchy, very solid leaves.  Definitely recommended, I will be including it in the future.  It did have a bit of a tendency to necrotic edges, as seen in the photo (due mostly to how stiff the leaves are, I think), but not enough to be a serious detractor for me.

Du Bon Jardinier

I have mixed feelings on this one - in no small part because I had two very different results from two plants in the same pod.  As you can see in the pic, one was super tightly headed, and was nonstop necrotic leaves.  The other, from the same packet of seeds, was relatively loose leaved, and one of my favorites of the grow.  The leaves were thick/fleshy and sweet, as one would expect from a butterhead.  I hesitate to recommend it, though, because of the difference between the two plants I grew.  (I eventually cut out the heading one and just enjoyed the looser leafed one for the rest of the grow.)

 

Chijimisai

I was super excited about trying this variety (a cross between komatsuna and tatsoi, which was touted as an even better spinach substitute than either), and it was both super exciting and very disappointing at once.

In terms of what I was looking for - a spinach substitute - it does indeed do a better job than either parent plant.  Raw, the texture (of the leaf part, it has a -lot- of stem) is very close, and the flavor is light and on the sweet side. I think with your eyes closed you could definitely mistake it for spinach, especially if you weren't aware ahead of time that it wasn't.  Cooked, though, while it was once again the closest of the three to spinach, if you tried it with a blindfold, you'd probably guess turnip greens, not spinach.  Still, delicious either raw or cooked; the flavor is outstanding.  However, the plant is relatively small and slow growing.  By the time I ended this grow at 100 days, I'd only gotten one decent harvest (about one serving, cooked, between two plants, one in the AG and one in the Gardyn) and a random leaf here and there.  I'm not sure if it simply takes longer than that to hit its stride, or if it's just disappointingly unprolific.  Possibly a better choice for an outside garden where you can have a whole row of it.

 

 

 

Batavian Rouge

This is the epitome of what I think of as 'red leaf lettuce' - it tastes almost exactly like the kind my grandmother always used for salads, aside from a slight hint of minty flavor (but without the menthol coolness).  Absolutely lovely, very low fuss, highly recommended; I will definitely have this in future grows.

 

 

Ruby

Hands down, my personal favorite of this grow.   Not only is it prolific, there is no bitterness at all to the flavor, and a delightful walnut-like overtone to it.  And of course, the color is out of this world, from delicate lime green, to rosy salmon, to deep almost purplish ruby.  I could grow a whole round of nothing but this and be happy.  The leaves are not super crisp, so if that is what you're looking for it may not be the best choice, but aside from that, I highly recommend it for anyone.