Agretti is a popular saltwort growing in popularity among British food lovers and chefs for its unique texture and seaweed-samphire-like flavour.
Seed Sowing
Agretti seeds are only viable for a few months – they are actually little plants not strictly seeds – so try not to hold onto them for too long before sowing.
Sow in modules under cover in Feb-March or outside in April. Germination can be erratic and patchy, taking 7-21 days, so always sow more than you need to. Ensure a longer harvest window by sowing multiple successions a few weeks apart.
Transplanting
Plant out from modules once seedlings are established, spacing plants 30cm apart.
Agretti can be a great space filler and companion plant grown under taller trellised crops like tomatoes and cucumbers.
Plant Care
Agretti prefers free draining soil but can cope with slightly wet conditions. It grows well in humid, warm conditions like polytunnels but can also be grown outdoors.
Keep the area weed-free and mulch around the plants to keep in moisture and prevent weeds. Make sure to water regularly in hot conditions to keep the leaves nice and plump.
Challenges
Once established Agretti is generally free from many pests and diseases but will benefit from being covered with fleece protection if nights are particularly cool.
Agretti can be prone to black fly infestations so be sure to encourage natural predators like ladybirds, ground beetles, hoverflies, parasitic wasps and earwigs to your garden.
Harvest
Start harvesting young, when plants are about 10cm high to encourage the plant to branch. Cut or pinch just above a growth point as you would do for Basil. In a good season you should be able to take a cutting every week until the first frosts.
Culinary Ideas And Uses
Agretti can be eaten raw or cooked, working wonderfully as part of a summer salad mix. Steam, boil or saute larger leaves and slather in olive oil, garlic, black pepper and lemon juice, to serve alongside fish or eggs.
Seed Saving
Mark some plants in early summer and don’t harvest from them, leaving them to flower.
Due to the unique nature of Agretti’s ‘seeds’ we find that saving them works best by leaving the plants to mature until around October. The whole plant can then be pulled, spread out on a sheet in a polytunnel before threshing when needed at the beginning of the new season.
Seeds will not store, keep in a cool and humid environment to keep them ‘alive’.
Most popular Other Salad Leaves
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Salad rocket (Organic)
£1.80 – £3.50 Add to basket This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageSalad rocket (Organic)
Salad leaf with a peppery fresh taste, most commonly used raw but can be cooked, too. The nutritious dark green serrated leaves add their fine spice to salads, pasta, pizza, pesto, other sauces or as garnish. Salad rocket is native to the Mediterranean and has a long history of popularity. It is quick to crop and easy to grow and definitely one of our favourite salad leaves.
(Approximate seed count – 900)
£1.80 – £3.50 -
Corn Salad / Lamb’s Lettuce – (Organic)
£1.90 – £3.20 Add to basket This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageCorn Salad / Lamb’s Lettuce – (Organic)
An invaluable hardy winter salad for growing outdoors and under cover with a superb nutty flavour. Corn salad or lamb’s lettuce is a small annual plant that forms rosettes of dark green leaves which have a gentle nutty flavour, soft texture, and are extremely popular as salad greens. It provides a valuable source of fresh greens during the autumn and winter months as it is suitable for growing outdoors with little protection or under cover in the cold.
We are amazed by this plant’s hardiness and really enjoy growing it! Ronja grew up eating ‘Feldsalat’ (German for corn salad) almost every day during the winter months and wouldn’t want to live without it.
£1.90 – £3.20 -
Claytonia ‘Winter Purslane’ – (Organic)
£1.85 Add to basketClaytonia ‘Winter Purslane’ – (Organic)
A must-have excellent winter leaf of mild flavour and incredibly succulent, soft and juicy texture.. Winter purslane, also known as miners lettuce or claytonia, has heart-shaped elegant looking leaves which are small, abundant and make a great cut-and-come-again salad green. You will get a productive harvest all winter and early spring and if left to self seed, it will just keep coming back year after year.
It is one of those greens that come up in just the right moment when we’re most in need of something fresh and it self-manages very well which is why we like it too.
(Approximate seed count – 850)£1.85 -
Wild Rocket (Organic)
£1.80 Add to basketWild Rocket (Organic)
Delicious and spicy serrated leaves, smaller and more delicate than their cultivated cousin. We love wild rocket as it just keeps on giving, even once it is going to seed it continues to produce new leaf growth if you cut it back.
(Approximate seed count – 500)£1.80
