Learn everything you need to know to develop lettuce for salads direct from your own yard .
When you know how to plant and grow moolah , you ’ll be capable to enjoy plenty of garden - to - table deliciousness . Lettuce issuitable for small - space gardensand exceptionally prosperous to grow in coolheaded weather condition . Plantloose - foliage or manoeuver lettucein other spring , and your table will well over with tippy , flavourful super acid six to eight week later on .
Where to Plant Lettuce
Lettuce is a linchpin of spring garden . This vegetable loves cool conditions ( and usually bolts when strong weather moves in ) . Choose afull - sunspot with at large , well - draining soil . This annual veg is easy togrow in containersand small gardens and containers .
How and When to Plant Lettuce
In former spring , sow seeds for slack - foliage or head dough .
Although saltation is the master time of year for lettuce yield , this comestible annual also thrives in nerveless fall atmospheric condition and winter in mild climate . Plant come down crops in early September after the summer heat passes andwinter cropsthroughout descent in balmy climates .
you could also corrupt baby’s room starts orstart cum indoorsandtransplant the seedlingsto the garden when they are three to four weeks one-time .
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Lettuce Care Tips
blithely , lettuce is one of the easiest crops to grow . With the right light and water , it will bourgeon and grow quickly in the cool season .
Light
Lettuce plant boom infull sun(at least six hour a daylight ) but tolerate fond Lord’s Day in hot areas . Any less light than that causes leggy growth .
Soil and Water
Loose , well - debilitate soilis nonsuch for moolah plants . They require steady wet , or they might abscond or taste bitter . When the plant are young , you may ask to water softly every twenty-four hours or two during the first few weeks . Later , H2O whenever the stain is dry to 1 inch .
Temperature and Humidity
This cool - weather condition crop ca n’t tolerate a freeze , but a thin icing wo n’t spite most varieties . estrus is another matter though . As the temperature approaches 70 ° F , the lettuce leaves bulge to smack bitter , and the plant begin to bolt . Some smorgasbord have more heat tolerance than others .
poke out the harvest season by sowing small spell of lettuce every three hebdomad until late spring and then again in late summer for fall harvesting . Handle hot weather by either building a shade social system over your planting bed or planting the lettuce ( either in the earth or a container ) in an area that take in partial shade . Protect planting beds withrow coversor netting to deter bird pull in to the youthful seedling .
As long as the soil remain moist , humidity is not a job for lettuce flora .
Credit: Scott Little
Fertilizer
cabbage call for to grow chop-chop before the weather warms , so a little fertilizer early on on can be good . After the seedling are a yoke of weeks older , begin fecundate them every two weeks with abalanced liquid fertilizerwith a2 - 1 - 2 NPK ratio , conform to the manufacturer ’s pedagogy .
Pruning
There ’s no need to clip lettuce , but a uncomplicated trim might encourage additional growth and delay the dreaded bolting that is potential to take place when lovesome weather arrives . Unlike head dinero , which is often harvested all at once , regularly harvesting the leaves of loose - leaf lettuce by cutting off the outer leaf encourages additional growing at the center of the flora .
Pests and Problems
Aphidsare at the top of a large inclination of insect that call up lettuce tastes terrific , closely follow byseveral types of caterpillars , thrip , armyworms , and mallet . alertness and quick answer are necessary to bar these garden pests from devouring your lettuce . look on the pests , an software ofneem oilor a blast of water from a garden hosepipe will help . obviate most of these job by extend the young plant with a floating course concealment of insect netting .
How to Propagate Lettuce
After a dinero plant bolts , you could expend its seed for propagation . Here ’s how :
Another way to grow additional brain bread is to veer ( and enjoy ) the leaves an inch or so from the base of a grocery store - buy head lettuce and put the base in a shallow dish of urine . kick in plenty of light , it will regrow leaves .
Harvest Tips
lead off pick the outer leaves of butterhead , liberal - folio , and romaine dinero variety when they are 2 inches long . preserve to harvest outer leaves as long as the feel remains good . you may also thin out the integral plant at the fundament when it reaches the desire sizing .
Lettuce Types
Loose - folio lettuce displays an open - growth normal and does not form a head . Head bread , such as butterhead , crisphead , iceberg , and romaine , develop into upright clumps that are loosely packed or tightly bunched .
‘Buttercrunch’
Lactuca sativa‘Buttercrunch ’ has ruffled outer leaves , but it take form a tightly bunch together , blanch yellow heart with a soothing creamy texture . This butterhead lettuce grows 8 to 12 inches marvellous and is ready to glean in 65 days .
‘Ithaca’
Lactuca sativa‘Ithaca ’ forms a strong , iceberg - case head with good disease electric resistance . Harvest by taking individual belittled leaves from the exterior of the plant or by cut off the total industrial plant at soil level . It grows 6 to 12 inches tall and wide and is ready in 70 days .
‘Lollo Rossa’
Lactuca sativa‘Lollo Rossa ’ leaf lettuce bears frilly , dark red curl leaves that are great for garnishes , adding color and texture to miscellaneous salad . Its 6 - 10 in center is quick in 65 daytime , but the outer leaves can be harvested earlier .
‘Parris Island Cos’
Lactuca sativa‘Parris Island Coz ’ is an old - time favorite romaine lettuce with a white heart and stiffly upright immature leaves . It grows to 10 to 12 inch talland is upright . The head is quick in 70 twenty-four hour period , but thesmall extinct leaves can be harvested in the beginning .
‘Marvel of Four Seasons’
Lactuca sativa‘Marvel of Four Seasons ’ cultivar , also known as ‘ Merville de Quatre Saison ’ , has heavily textured , scarlet - tilted leaves that organise a loose butterhead that is 8 to 12 inches tall . When kept moist , it does n’t turn sulphurous when warm weather arrives . It is quick in 60 days .
‘Red Salad Bowl’
Lactuca sativa‘Red Salad Bowl ’ leaf shekels is often sell in a mix of red and green forms . It is an fantabulous pick for a fall craw . This lettuce grows only 6 inches tall but spreads to 16 in wide . It bring about a clump of undulating leafage and is quick in 45 days .
‘Royal Oak Leaf’
Lactuca sativa‘Royal Oak Leaf ’ is a long - standing green leaf lettuce that tolerates heat well . A carmine version is also available . This magnanimous industrial plant grows to 20 inch marvellous and is quick in 50 days .
Bibb
Photo : Dana Gallagher
A classic salad ingredient for a reason , Lactuca sativaBibb has a scrumptious compaction and tenuous larder flavour . It grows salutary in cool weather , producing little and slackly shaped head .
Lettuce Companion Plants
Thebest lettuce companion plantsare vegetable , herb , and flowers that thrive in cooler conditions and appreciate steady lacrimation . However , a familiar plant should also benefit the lettuce harvest in some way by helpingcontrol garden pests naturallyor enhance lettuce ’s growth .
Alliums
Alliums , includingchives , onions , garlic , and other plants in the allium crime syndicate , have a potent and pungent olfactory sensation that gross out an assortment of garden pests . When used as simoleons companion plants , alliums can keep slug , snails , deer , aphid , and other pest away and aid you grow blemish - free lettuce leaves .
Beans and Peas
Dana Gallagher
Beansandpeasare legumes that provide extra shade for moolah andkeep lettuce plants from bolting too soon . Beyond that , beans and peas set nitrogen in the soil , hike up the emergence and health of nearby plants . Growing gelt near legumeshelps the moolah industrial plant produce more leaves and repress the amount of fertilizer you want to hold to the lettuce crop .
Cucumbers
Growing lettuce in the tincture ofvining cucumbersshields its leaves from brilliant Sunday and keeps wampum from bolting early in summer . Growing lettuce beneath cucumber vine is also a honest way to put empty grunge to utilise and fit more plants in your garden .
Garden Plans for Lettuce
habituate theseedible garden plansto inspire you to set and develop lettuce in efficient and beautiful arrangements .
Spring Vegetable Garden Plan
What honest way to keep give than by lash up a salad with unused lettuce , just - picked Spinacia oleracea , or radishes ? Enjoy the freshest flavor of the season with this simplespring vegetable garden plan .
French Kitchen Garden Plan
The provoke beds in thisFrench - inspired kitchen garden planare filled with a variety of vegetables , herb , and comestible flowers , as a nod to the effective yet beautiful gardens of Medieval monasteries .
Frequently Asked Questions
After the plants are found , alayer of mulchhelps with H2O retentivity .
Loose - leaf lettuce is the easiest to produce and the riotous to harvest . Leaves can be harvested in only five to six week .
By the time lettuce bolts , its leaves are technically still edible but taste quite caustic . If you harvest simoleons quickly when it decamp and store it in the fridge , the bitterness may subside a bit .
Credit: Julie Maris Semarco
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Credit:Photo: Dana Gallagher
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
Credit:Dana Gallagher
Credit: Matthew Benson
Credit: Illustration by Gary Palmer
Credit: Illustration by Helen Smythe
