When I think of growing lettuce in my garden, I think gourmet all the way!
I grew up eating iceberg lettuce and didn’t realize how many other options were out there. Don’t get me wrong – I do like iceberg lettuce as it has a special place for certain salads and meals. Out of the 4 types of lettuce, I prefer to grow romaine and butterhead lettuce.
If you have a grow room and you are tapped for space, don’t worry you can always sow your lettuce seeds outdoors. If you have room, you can always get a head start indoors.
Outdoor Sowing Tips:
In order to germinate, lettuce seeds prefer soil temperatures between 40°F and 80°F. I usually go for 60°F. This means that you can start sowing mid spring and late summer.
Lettuce seeds should be planted 1/8″ deep.
Depending on the type of lettuce you are growing, you should read the seed packet to see how far apart to plant them. The distance for full grown lettuce typically varies between 6″ and 12″. As for square foot gardening, this means that you should put 4 plants or 1 plant per square foot. For baby greens, plant the seeds close together.
Indoor Sowing Tips:
Sow the seeds in seed trays under grow lights.
Water from below.
I usually transplant the lettuce seedlings to a 4 inch pot in the grow room once the lettuce seedling has two sets of true leaves and transplant them outside once there are a few more leaves.
I usually start my lettuce seeds indoors a few weeks before I transplant them in late spring or late summer.
Don’t forget to harden off the seedlings before transplanting.
Use the spacing noted above.
Growing Tips:
Keep the lettuce seedlings and plants moist but not soggy!
Depending on your soil, you may need to give your lettuce a little boost of nitrogen.
Since slugs may attack lettuce, I use Sluggo Plus to get rid of them.
In the summer, provide some shade. As for shade, you can plant lettuce under taller plants or use a shade cloth over a hoop tunnel.
No matter what I am planting above ground in the spring or fall, I am always ready for crazy temperature swings which means I have my garden fabric and hoop tunnels ready to go before I plant.
While most lettuce produces the best when there is cool weather with air temperature between 60°F and 70°F, you can really extend your growing season by growing different varieties. There are some lettuce varieties that are cold tolerant and some that are heat tolerant. Overall, lettuce shines in the spring and fall.
Also, lettuce is great for succession planting and interplanting.
Don’t forget that lettuce is a member of the Aster Plant Family and belongs to the Greens veggie category.
