How To Grow Lettuce

Let us face it lettuce is one of the favorite crops in the garden because lettuce is relatively easy to grow, lettuce grows fast and saves you lots of money compared to buying it in the shops!

Lettuce is one of the first salad vegetables of the year that can be planted, and so it is one of the first to be harvested in the spring. Lettuce takes well to most soils and you can squeeze it into a small space, also as it has shallow roots it is also suited to growing in containers as well.

Planting Lettuce.

You can plant Lettuce as early as 2 to 4 weeks before the last frost as lettuce tolerates temperature changes such as frost very well, although it is not suited to ongoing freezing temperatures, and can run wild bolting in higher temperatures. So ideally it is suited to growing in the Autumn or Fall seasons.

Lettuce can make do with as little as five hours of sunshine per day, and whilst okay in full sunshine is better suited to a shadier area of your plot to stop it bolting, accordingly it is better when picked early rather than late. Lettuce will respond well to a small application of fertiliser.

Note whilst lettuce has shallow roots if you are planting Lettuce in a container then aim for a soil depth of around 6. If you are planting seeds directly in the garden plant them 3/8 to 1/2 inch deep, cover with a fine layer of compost.

Whilst the space between rows of Lettuce varies with the variety, ideally they should be thinned to around 8 inches part. Often the seeds are started inside and transplanted outside, however this does not apply to all varieties of Lettuce as some must be sown directly in the soil as they do not transplant well. So always read the seed packet. Lettuces need light but consistent watering.

Harvest the whole lettuce plant when of a suitable size or for a longer harvest use a sharp knife to cut the Lettuce leaves off when around 4 inches long.

If you are having problems with your lettuce see also Lettuce Pests And Diseases

By Richard Allen -