Lettuce Tom Thumb

The tiny Victorian butterhead that grows where nothing else will fit. First listed in seed catalogues in the 1850s and still going, for one immediate reason: a mature head is about the size of a tennis ball and takes barely fifteen centimetres of ground.

The leaves are smooth, soft and almost buttery, with the gentle proper lettuce flavour that went out of supermarket fashion and stayed beloved by anyone who grows their own. One head dressed with vinaigrette is a side salad for one person, which means nothing is left to wilt in the fridge.

It suits containers, window boxes and the gaps between slower crops, and it is ready in seven to nine weeks. Children take to it — a lettuce of their own, small enough to feel like theirs.