Lettuce

Selection and Planting

Lettuce Varieties

Any trip to the grocery will show you that the variety of lettuce available is staggering.  You can purchase types like loose leaf, romaine, and iceberg just to name a few.  But, once you start getting into gardening, you quickly realize that the options available to you are much greater.

Lettuce is a very versatile plant that is grown using a wide variety of methods and through a wide variety of seasons.  Most of the lettuce types available to you have been bred to be grown in the spring and fall when the air temperature is cooler.  Other varieties perform much better in the summer when the temperature is warm. 

When choosing a variety to grow, think about what type of lettuce you purchase most often to eat and when you would like to enjoy some grown in your garden.  Then, shop for local varieties that grow best in those weather conditions.

Planting

Lettuce in Rose Tree Garden should always be grown from healthy transplants purchased from reputable garden centers or grown under lights from seed.  If you are new to gardening, do not try growing plants from seed.  Starting lettuce from seed in the garden can be difficult and isn’t recommended.  Transplants offer higher rates of success and get you enjoying the fruits of your labor sooner.

In general, lettuce grows best in the cool weather of the spring and fall.  Some varieties have been bred perform well in hotter conditions, but just like with typical varieties, the heat tends to make lettuce more bitter.  Lettuce responds to the long days and heat of the summer by undergoing a process called bolting where the plant quickly grows in height and begins producing seed.  Once this happens, your plant should be removed.

Spacing of lettuce differs depending on the variety you have chosen to grow.  Generally, 10 inch spacing will work for most types, but consult your seed packet or plant tag for specific details.

Growing Lettuce

Pests

Lettuce isn’t affected by a large number of insect pests.  Those that have been seen feeding on the plants do so periodically and cause damage that results in nothing more than various holes chewed into leaves.  We do not recommend spraying anything to control insect pests on lettuce.

The more common pests to lettuce are slugs and snails which are capable of quickly consuming the leaves of your plant.  We to not recommend spraying anything on the leaves of lettuce plants to control snails and slugs.  Instead, cultural changes that reduce the soil moisture are the ways to control this pest.  See the watering section below.

Diseases

We have not seen much in the way of diseases on lettuce in Rose Tree Garden, so we don’t recommend any treatments other than the usual good cultural practices discussed below.

  1. Plant spacing: Lettuce plants that are positioned too close together will result in higher levels of humidity near the leaves due to air not being able to move between the plants.  Making sure to give plants plenty of space will improve airflow and reduce the likelihood of disease and pest problems
  2. Watering: Always water in the morning so the sun can quickly dry the water on the leaves.  Don’t let wet conditions beneath the plants exist for long.
  3. Crop rotation: Even though a lack of crop rotation (not growing plants in the same place every year) isn’t very harmful to lettuce, it is always good to practice it for all your plants.  Every year, move your plants to a different part of your garden that hasn’t hosted lettuce for the past year or two.

Watering

Maintaining consistent soil moisture levels will improve plant growth.  Monitor both the soil moisture and rainfall using the Rose Tree Garden Weather Data and water your plants when soil moisture decreases or the garden has not received at least 1″ of rainfall in the past week.

When watering, do so in the morning so that the sun will quickly dry off the leaves.  Water slowly at the base of the plant over a period of an hour to encourage deep root growth.  Long and infrequent watering encourages the plant to focus on root development which will enable it to survive through periods of drought. 

Weed Control

Keep area under your plants clear of weeds to prevent competition.  Use a garden hoe or hand pulling to remove the weeds.  Reduce the weed pressure by following our Weed Prevention suggestions.

Harvesting

Lettuce can be harvested as soon as they reach an acceptable size.  While it is possible to remove the entire head from the plant, we would recommend periodically pulling the bottom-most leaves off the plant.  This encourages more upward growth and can greatly extend a season.  If executed properly, you should be able to get 5-10 harvests from a single plant before the heat of summer sets in.

It is highly suggested to harvest your lettuce in the morning when the weather is cool and the leaves are the sweetest.  Lettuce picked in the the middle of the day or afternoon results in less sweet, more bitter harvests.