How to grow lettuce: best tips and tastiest varieties
Nothing beats the taste of homegrown lettuce. Even beginners can succeed, whether using a balcony planter or a pot. Anyone who enjoys a taste of something new will be delighted by quirky leaf shapes and colors found in different lettuce varieties. Learn how to grow lettuce!
Lettuce is a cultivated Mediterranean plant believed to come from wild prickly lettuce. Over the last couple of thousand years, countless varieties have been bred, providing options for both beginners and experienced growers.
- Leaf lettuce is the easiest and quickest type to grow. It forms a rosette but never develops a head. You can harvest it in four to six weeks. Pick leaves once they are about 5 centimeters long or when thinning out dense growth. Later, harvest by picking individual leaves or cutting the rosette 2–3 centimeters above the ground so it can grow back. Throughout the summer, you can sow new rounds of the lettuce every couple of weeks.
- Head lettuce form either a tight or loose head, which you harvest whole. There are soft- and crisp-leaved head lettuces, with the most common crisp variety being the dense and heavy iceberg lettuce. Batavia lettuce is somewhere between a soft-leaf and a crisp-leaf head lettuce. Head lettuces take longer to grow than leaf lettuce. Soft-leaf head and batavia lettuces are ready in about eight weeks, while iceberg lettuce needs about ten.
- Cos lettuce—also known as romaine—develops a loose, upright head in about eight weeks.
- Asparagus lettuce grows a tender, edible stem, and you can also pick a few leaves for salads during the summer. Be careful when harvesting leaves so the plant’s growth is not disturbed.
How to grow lettuce successfully
Growing medium
Use a mild, fertilizer-free peat-and-sand mix for sowing seeds or growing lettuce seedlings, whether in containers or boxes. Outdoors, use sandy, nutrient-rich soil that holds moisture.
Light and location
Choose a sunny but not scorching spot for growing lettuce. You can sow leaf lettuce in a pot on a windowsill or in a balcony planter as early as April. Wait until the soil temperature is over 4 degrees to plant seeds outdoors. Lettuce grows best in cool conditions, and seeds do not germinate above 25 degrees.
Starting seedlings
Start head lettuce seedlings in April–May for two to three weeks. Use fresh seeds, as they lose viability in a couple of years. Sow seeds 5 centimeters apart or place one seed in each seedling pot. Lightly cover them with soil, water, and protect with plastic until they sprout.
Planting
Transplant outdoors, into a cold frame, or into a greenhouse when seedlings are about 5 centimeters tall. Plant them slightly deeper than before but make sure not to cover the growth point at the base, or they will stop growing.
Direct sowing outdoors
All lettuce varieties can be sown outdoors in April–May, about 0.5 centimeters deep. For leaf lettuce, space seedlings 1–10 centimeters apart or 20–30 centimeters apart if you want mature rosettes, with 20–40 centimeters between rows. For other lettuce varieties, leave 20–40 centimeters between seedlings and 30–40 centimeters between rows.
Watering
Lettuce needs frequent watering so it does not become bitter or bolt.
Harvest
Pick leaf lettuce leaf by leaf or cut it just above the growth point to allow multiple harvests. For head lettuce, cut the stem below the outer leaves so the head stays clean. Harvest asparagus lettuce stems once they reach around 30 centimeters.
Tasty lettuce varieties
Leaf lettuce
- ‘Black Seeded Simpson’: An early variety that matures in about 42 days. Its leaves are yellowish-green, curly, and juicy, and it tolerates heat and dry weather.
- ‘Baby Leaf’ mixes: A selection of different lettuce types in various colors. Pick leaves at about 5 centimeters, or let them reach full size.
Soft head lettuce
- ‘Merveille of Four Seasons’: An old, hardy variety. The outer, wavy leaves are reddish, and the head is fairly dense. Its flavor is very aromatic.
Crisp head lettuce
- ‘Ice King’: A fast-growing, crisp head lettuce with a compact center.
- ‘Saladin’: Great for outdoor growing. Healthy and easy to cultivate, producing an attractive, moderately dense head with a prolonged harvest period and a fresh taste.
Batavia lettuce
- ‘Lollo Rosso’: An Italian variety with wine-red, frilly, juicy leaves, also suitable as an ornamental in flowerbeds.
Cos (romaine) lettuce
- ‘Little Gem’: A prized French variety that remains fairly small. The outer leaves are bright green and gently wavy, while the center is yellowish and crisp.
Asparagus lettuce
- Grows a flower stalk about 20–30 centimeters tall. Prepare it as you would asparagus, by briefly boiling it. You can also pick a few leaves for salads in moderation. Contains two to three times more vitamin C than head lettuce.
