I work for a woman at a local farm who sells lettuces. We discussed for the entire season about selling salad mixes, but she moves a bit slowly on these things, lol. But, that being said, at the end of the season, she did sow some lettuces near the end of the market season to give this idea a try.

She did not try anything in particularly fancy, just the same lettuces we had been selling as heads, but she cut them small - maybe two inches. Some of the varieties we grew included Jericho, New Red Fire, Nevada, Tropicana, Black Seeded Simpson, Magenta, Winter Density, and a red-speckled variety which I can't remember the name of. I don't know if all of these were in the mix, but those are some of varieties we grew.

I believe she may have put a few mustard leaves and mizuna in there too, but I honestly don't remember. The one day we did this I was also harvesting our usual greens, so I'm not exactly sure if the mustard, etc. went into the mix, but I do think I was cutting small leaves, so maybe. These were cut out of the field, as opposed to the baby lettuce leaves being from the greenhouse.

While we discussed packaging for quite awhile, again, this was a last-minute experiment, so we just put the mixes in plastic bags. We washed the leaves, she weighed them, and we bagged them. I don't recall the weight - maybe 4 ounces??

Despite the fact that they didn't look all that fancy, just being in clear plastic bags, she told me they sold like hotcakes at the market. I wasn't at market with her that day, and I don't recall how much she sold them for (although I'm sure she underpriced them, lol).

I was not at all surprised they sold so well. I was glad she had finally taken the plunge with this idea, and I'm hoping we expand on it this coming season. After all, these mixes are so popular in the stores.

In some ways, they are somewhat labor intensive - cutting the little leaves, washing, weighing, bagging/packaging, sowing every week, etc. But on the other hand, if we grow just in the greenhouse in trays, we don't have to plant out and weed, etc.

I'm hoping she spends a bit and buys nicer packaging - although, we do both think environmentally, and she is trying to find perhaps a compostable package, which of course costs more. But I think packaging will help the presentation - not that it seemed to need the help!

Also, if we go this route, she may buy seeds for a salad mix, as opposed to sowing the separate varieties. Johnny's has some nice mixes she is looking at.

Sorry, I know I rambled a bit, but I love lettuce, lol. I love to eat it, I love the look of it, and I really enjoy helping this woman grow it.

Oh, one last thing. I didn't see the final package, but she told me she put some nasturtiums on top of the greens for a bit of color.

Hoped this helped a bit, and hope I didn't ramble on too long!

:)
Dee

Last year was our first attempt at gardening, so everything was a big experiment. I thought lettuce would be a big seller, especially since no one else had it at our market, especially during the hotter summer months. We only attempted one leaf lettuce, Magenta and bagged 1/2 lb. bags and sold for $4.00. Each time we sold out....we usually only took around 10 bags. This year we plan to save more room for planting different lettuces.

Hope this helps and good luck!