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Miner's Lettuce

Claytonia perfoliata
Also known as: Indian Lettuce, Winter Purslane, Spring Beauty, Cuban Spinach

Miner's Lettuce is a vegetable in the Montiaceae family. It grows best in part shade with medium moisture, and is listed for USDA zones 3-9. Plants reach harvest about 34–46 days after planting and sit about 3 inches apart.

Varieties

1 from High Mowing · sorted by days to maturity
  • Claytonia34–46 days

    Frost tolerant; Crunchy, juicy texture

    Beautiful, tasty and very cold-hardy salad green with succulent texture and fresh flavor. Unique round to heart-shaped leaves with tender stems and tiny, white edible flowers. Ideal for winter hoophouses; will survive frost and multiple cuttings. 47M seeds/oz. MÂCHE - Valerianella locusta

    Growing notes: Days to maturity are from from direct seeding. Specialty greens are a broad category of leafy plants, many of which are cold hardy and fast growing. Crops in this group are gaining popularity due to their ease of culture and unique flavors and colors.

    View on High Mowing
Family
Montiaceae
Category
Vegetable
Form
Rosette
Lifecycle
annual
Zone
3-9
Height
0.25–0.5 ft
Spread
0.25–0.5 ft
Sun
Part shade

Plant spacing

16 plants per square footSquare-foot planting diagram: a 1-foot square divided into a 4-by-4 grid holding 16 miner's lettuce plants spaced 3 inches apart.
16 plants per square foot

In a square-foot bed, space miner's lettuce about 3 in apart — that fits 16 plants in each 1-foot square (4×4). Wider rows or containers space the same.

Water
Medium

Plan your miner's lettuce planting

Add miner's lettuce to a free GardenDraft plan and get sow, transplant, and harvest dates computed for your ZIP code — with a drag-and-drop bed layout and reminders when it’s time to plant.

Start your free plan →

At a glance

Days to harvest
34–46 days
From transplant or sow to first harvest
Harvest style
Keep picking
Crops over several weeks
After harvest
Use right away
Quality drops fast past peak
Frost tolerance
Hardy · to ~15°F
Lowest temperature the foliage usually survives
Succession
Re-sow every 14 days
Sow again at this interval for a continuous harvest

Storing & preserving

Best used right away — quality drops fast. Refrigerate in a bag with a paper towel; best within a week.

  • Freeze: Cooking greens freeze after blanching; salad greens don't.

General home-preservation guidance — for tested processing times and safety, follow the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Growing timeline

When to plant and harvest miner's lettucePlanting timeline for miner's lettuce, relative to last frost: grow from 6 weeks before last frost to 1 week before last frost; harvest from 1 week before last frost to 1 week after last frost.GrowHarvestLast frostDirect sow
Direct-sow miner's lettuce 6 weeks before last frost; first harvest 1 week before last frost.
Outdoor planting
-42 to -21 days vs frost
Propagation
Seed
Schedule anchor
Last Frost

Care & troubleshooting

No curated care & troubleshooting advice for miner's lettuce yet. Our extension-sourced library currently focuses on common edible crops; we're expanding it over time.