Lettuce

lettuce Growing Lettuce Lettuce is one of the easiest of all vegetables to grow from seed. There are dozens of kinds and varieties to choose from. Dedicated lettuce fanciers can search seed racks and catalogs each planting season for new varieties to brighten the family salad bowl and surprise dinner guests. There are four types of lettuce. Leaf or loosehead lettuce forms a loose head that separates into large individual leaves for salads. It matures in 40 to 45 days. Butterhead forms small, rather open and irregular heads that blanch to a creamy interior color. It matures in 65 to 80 days. Romaine has upright, cylindrical, lightly folded heads that can easily be separated into individual leaves. It matures in 70 days if summer planted 80 if spring planted. Head lettuce requires 80 to 95 days to develop to full size.

How to plant

Lettuce is a cool weather crop there’s no doubt about it. Lettuce not only sulks and goes to seed in hot weather, but the seeds will also refuse to sprout in very warm soil. Lettuce grows readily in cool soil, so make your plantings in very early spring and at two-week intervals until late spring. Then delay additional plantings until the weather cools off.

Quick maturing leaf lettuce is the favorite where hot, humid summers follow closely on the heels of spring weather. In these areas, however, good fall crops of romaine or butterhead may be grown in fall if seeds are planted in late summer.

Spring crops of head lettuce from seeds sown indoors four to six weeks before the average frost free date and set out as good-sized plants mature ahead of the warm weather. Fall crops of all types can be grown from seeds sown directly in the garden. In the northern tier of states, high altitude gardens, and in cool coastal climates, lettuce can be grown all summer long.

Plant seeds 1/4 inch deep and 1 inch apart in rows 18 inches apart. Set plants of heading varieties no less than 12 inches apart in rows 24 inches apart. If spaced more closely, they won’t form large heads.

If you experience difficulty in sprouting lettuce seeds due to dry or hot soils, place a cupful of moistened sphagnum moss in a plastic bag and add a few dozen seeds. Store the bag in the vegetable freshener of the refrigerator during the day; take it out at night. The alternating temperatures should initiate sprouting within two to three weeks. Watch the seeds carefully and as soon as they show signs of sprouting, plant them all during the cool evening hours. Cover with ¹/4 inch of soil and moisten the row thoroughly and often until the seedlings are established.

Care

Give leaf lettuce only a light fertilization at planting time; heading types will respond to a second light feeding when plants are half grown. Water lettuce lightly, but often.

Harvesting

Mature lettuce plants can be pulled for harvest, giving you a mixture of large and small leaves. If you have only a few plants, pull and eat just the outer leaves without sacrificing whole plants. Use all thinnings, of course, in salads. Leaf lettuce such as ‘Grand Rapids’ or ‘Prizehead’ can be cut off an inch or two above the ground and the plants will send out new leaves. Harvest head lettuce when the center feels firm.