Miner's lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata)

Miner's lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) is a delightful short-lived annual leaf vegetable that only grows in cooler weather.  It is not a type of lettuce, or even closely related to lettuce, but is used in much the same way hence its common name.

Miner's lettuce is a vegetable that I tend to eat raw, but it also goes well briefly cooked.  I am told it can be used in soups, but I don't intend to try that as I really like to eat it fresh.  It is incredibly nutritious, tastes great, and is nicely crunchy.  This plant is pretty high in Vitamin C, iron, and various other nutrients that have been sorely lacking over winter.  I think that eating miner's lettuce fresh is best because cooking would destroy some of the vitamin c.

There is something about this plant that I can't get enough of.  I find myself in the garden pulling and eating hand-fulls of the stuff.  I can't walk past without eating at least a few leaves.  I wish it grew during warmer weather because it is excellent in a salad, or in a sandwich, or...it is great with pretty much with anything.  Miner's lettuce is my favourite salad vegetable, too bad it is only grows during such a short period each year.

Miner's lettuce self seeds in my garden once the weather warms.  Once the weather cools, it starts to germinate, and seems to cover impressive amounts of soil while it grows.  It usually grows rather dense from self dropped seeds, covers the soil, and blocks sunlight from hitting the soil which in turn reduces weed growth.  I really need to spread a lot more seed around the garden so I can eat more of this next year!

Miner's lettuce (and some mache) covering the soil

I either pull out handfulls of miner's lettuce, or I snip of sections using scissors, meaning that harvest is quick and simple.  My kids seem to also like miner's lettuce.  They often come to me and ask if I can pick them a bowl full to eat.  

There aren't a lot of leaf vegetables that my kids actually want to eat.  My daughter sometimes asks if she can pick a bowl full to share with me.  Some miner's lettuce, a little salt, and afternoon tea is sorted.

My daughter picked miner's lettuce to share with me

Miner's lettuce grows little leaves on long stalks.  The whole thing is edible and tastes good.  Once the plant matures the flowers are born inside a leaf, and look rather pretty.  Flowering does not change the taste, and miner's lettuce is never bitter.  

Not long after they flower they die and drop seed.  The seeds tend to sit in the soil and wait for cool weather, then as long as the soil moisture is high enough they germinate.

Miner's lettuce seems to display a lot of variation in size, but I don't think this is genetic.  I think this is environmental as the ones on poor soil tend to be tiny, and the ones on good soil are larger.  Below are six leaves, the three on the left are regular leaves from different plants.  The three on the right are all flowering size.  

If grown in poor soil this plant will stay tiny and still flower and set seed, meaning it is really good at setting up a permanent self-seeding patch.  I can't imagine it becoming too much of a weed as its life is so short, plus my kids would graze it out if I let them.

The three on the left are regular leaves, three on the right are flowering leaves

I have never seen any pest of disease affect miner's lettuce in my garden.  Sometimes slugs get in among the stalks, but they seem to be hiding there rather than eating anything.  A quick rinse takes care of these.  Occasionally I see a few small holes in the leaves, I have no idea what causes that, but they don't appear to do much damage so I don't mind sharing.

We had a hail storm yesterday, so my plants are all bruised and damaged.  The plants are tender but somehow far more resilient than they appear.  Even with the hail damage they probably have a few more weeks of harvest as they are flowering, so will drop seed and die down soon. 

Miner's lettuce is good in beds that are occupied by perennial summer vegetables during warmer weather.  I have grown it in potato beds and under yacon, where it works well.  I have a feeling that it would do well in the asparagus bed if I didn't already have strawberries covering the soil there.  I often wonder how it would perform in aquaponics.

Miner's lettuce on the left (mache on the right) - I can't eat enough of it!

To the best of my knowledge no breeding effort has ever been put into miner's lettuce, and there are no named varieties.  This plant is pretty much a wild edible.  Usually wild edibles are rather fibrous and bitter, but this one is neither.

While I often try to breed improved varieties of pretty much everything, I am not sure if I will try to improve miner's lettuce.  Partly because I have no access to genetically diverse germplasm, and partly because miner's lettuce is pretty great just as they are.  I just wish they tolerated warmer weather a bit better!

My plants are growing and flowering now.  If I collect seed I will likely list it on my for sale page.  If I don't save seed, or I am sold out, there are a few places that sell seeds of miner's lettuce so you should be able to find it somewhere.