Home Grown Lettuce
Want to see a great example of what makes home grown produce superior to store bought vegetables, then just try growing lettuce in your back yard garden.
Advantages of Home Grown Lettuce
Growing your own lettuce will reward you with sweet, nutritious heads of fresh lettuces that are larger and tastier than any found at your local grocer. And you won’t have to worry about any pesticide residues because it’s easy to cultivate organically grown lettuce in the home garden.
There are hundreds of lettuce varieties to choose from, but I bet you won’t find more than a dozen different varieties offered for sale at your local grocers. Lettuce is commonly divided into categories such as Butterhead, Romaine, Crisphead, and Looseleaf varieties.
Looseleaf lettuces are usually considered the easiest to grow, and are more heat tolerant than most heading varieties. You can also grow Mesclun, which is a quick growing mixture of lettuce varieties combined with other leafy greens and herbs.
Growing Lettuce in the Home Garden
Lettuce is generally a cool season crop. If forced to grow in warm weather conditions the plants will quickly send up a seed stalk and develop a bitter flavor, definitely not what the home gardener is interested in.
Plant lettuce directly in the garden as soon as the soil can be worked, or better yet start seedlings indoors to be transplanted into the garden. Some varieties can be planted thickly in late fall. The small plants will overwinter and can be thinned and transplanted the following spring, resulting in extra early harvests of delicious fresh greens.
Lettuce appreciates a rich soil that is high in nitrogen, so add plenty of compost, aged manures, or other organic fertilizer to the growing bed. Rich, healthy soil, sufficient moisture, and fast, steady growth will go a long ways towards eliminating any troubles that you may encounter when growing lettuce. Just like hot temperatures, drought conditions can cause lettuce to set seed instead of developing large succulent heads.
Lettuce is perfect for growing in raised beds rather than rows. Thin or transplant your seedlings so that they stand about ten inches apart in each direction. When mature the leaves of neighboring plants will barely overlap and the plants will cover the entire bed, blocking out weed growth in the process.
Harvesting Delicious Lettuce
Leaf lettuces can be harvested a leaf at a time, or the entire plant can be cut at soil level, allowing the plant to sprout new leaf growth. Heading varieties should be harvested by cutting the entire plant when it reaches the desired size, and they usually will not produce additional growth.
One secret to enjoying sweeter tasting lettuce is to harvest only during the early morning hours and refrigerate until ready for use. Also be sure to harvest before the heads start to form seed stalks in early summer.
Great Heirloom Lettuce Varieties
Look around and you’ll find plenty of interesting heirloom lettuce varieties for the home garden. Some of my favorites are: Pirat, Yugoslavian Red, Rouge d’Hiver, Amish Deer Tongue, Bronze Arrowhead, Merveille des Quatre Saisons, Sucrine, Australian Yellowleaf, and Forellenschuss.
Other Related Vegetable Gardening Posts:
- Good Lettuce Gone Bad: Bolting and Flowering
- Choosing a “Fav Five” of the Garden Variety
- Home Grown Fruits
- Winter Vegetables
- Cut-and-Come-Again Leafy Greens
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March 13th, 2006 at 10:05 am
Last fall I went through all my old seed packets, tossing what was years out of date and planting a few things that I thought might have a chance. My lettuce must have done the overwintering thing you mentioned because suddenly I see I’ve got quite a great supply! I think I missed the opportunity to transplant them to thin them out though.
March 13th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
How large are those plants? Lettuce usually takes well to being transplanted while the plants are young. Check out the following link for transplanting tips.
June 28th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
I have collected a lot of romaine lettuce seeds.
How do I treat them? When can they be sown? Any info will help.
PS Harvested seeds in Oceanside Ca, June 2006.
Thanks
July 11th, 2006 at 11:14 pm
You really don’t have to do anything special with the lettuce seeds that you’ve collected, just keep the seeds dry and store them in a cool area until it’s time to plant them in your garden. Lettuce doesn’t germinate well in hot weather so wait until temperatures cool down before planting lettuce seeds.
September 13th, 2006 at 8:53 am
Thank you Kenny - great website. I want to ask a few questions. What about watering lettuce - how often and how much water? Also, I have cats that come around the garden sometimes, are they a threat to lettuce? Also, is there anything I can do to minimize the insects?
Thank you very much.
September 13th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
Thanks Moshe, it’s tough to give an answer to your question about watering lettuce plants because there are so many factors to consider. What climate are you growing your lettuce in? How much precipitation do you receive? Are you planting leaf lettuce or heading varieties of heirloom lettuce? Are you growing lettuce during the spring, summer, or fall season? When the weather is hot and dry the lettuce plants may need to be watered every two or three days. Fall grown lettuce may never need to be watered because there is more precipitation, less evaporation, and cooler growing conditions. You’ll have to keep an eye out and become familiar with your plants and the moisture levels in your soil. The cats are more of a threat to mice, voles, and baby rabbits that may invade the garden than they will be to your lettuce plants. As for the insects, healthy organically-grown lettuce is pretty resistant to insect pests. Use an organic soap spray or home made garlic mixture to combat aphids and check out my articles on slug control for information on methods to reduce snail damage. Floating row covers can also be used to protect lettuce from insects and animals that would harm the young seedlings. Good luck growing your lettuce plants.
May 21st, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Why does the beautiful Romaine lettuce become limp right after cutting?
It just folds up and shrivels.
Thank you.
May 21st, 2007 at 9:05 pm
The thick leaves of Romaine lettuce can actually hold up better after harvesting than other types of lettuce. Harvest the heads during the early morning hours before temperatures begin to rise. You can also give the harvested lettuce a quick dip in cold water and refrigerate or ice the heads down to help keep them fresh and crisp. Whatever you do don’t let the lettuce sit around under the mid-day sun or you’ll have limp, shriveled lettuce for sure.
May 23rd, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Kenny,
I live in Southern Indiana and we did not have a real “Spring” this year. We had an early April warm spell, a cold snap that lasted about 10 days and then the temps warmed up into the 80’s and have remained there almost every day for about 2 weeks now. We have also had less than normal rainfall this year. My romaine lettuce has a very bitter taste. I have tried allowing the plants to mature longer to see if this is the problem and it has improved a bit. We are watering every other day and the garden is well drained. Do you think it is just too hot now for this variety and if I should give up on this crop and try again next year? This is my first attempt with lettuce and I’m not sure I am doing it right. Thank you!
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Hi Stefanie, Lettuce does struggle to grow under warmer and dry growing conditions and will often run to seed or turn bitter. There are a few summer varieties of lettuce that are a little more heat tolerant and some growers use shade cloth to extend the lettuce growing season. Lettuce can also be raised as a fall vegetable but the timing of the planting is even more critical than spring sown crops. At this point I would focus on warm weather vegetables and try growing lettuce again next spring. Start the lettuce seedlings indoors under lights and transplant out into the garden a little earlier next season. You can also trial different lettuce varieties to determine which ones will grow best in your climate.
May 26th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Good suggestion.
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Hi Kenny,
I have an abundant crop of lettuce but I also have an abundant crop of tiny lettuce colored insects….even after I thoroughly wash the lettuce I can sometimes spot the critters. Should I do a soap spray,and if so what proportions?
June 22nd, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Dee, congrats on the nice crop of lettuce but it sounds like your harvest contains tiny aphids. A soap spray should bring them under control pretty quickly. Also, briefly soaking the harvested lettuce in slightly salted water may help dislodge the bugs and make cleaning your crop a litte easier. For a long term solution try attracting beneficial insects such as ladybugs and aphid lions to your garden where they will happily eat all the aphids that they catch on your lettuce.
July 6th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Hi Kenny
I am attempting to grow romaine lettuce for the first time. It is growing well. About 8″-10″ with nice leaves. The problem is that when picked a white milky fluid comes out of where the leaf was torn and the leaves have a bitter after taste. Any input would be help. Thank you
July 7th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Hi Marty, try harvesting your romaine lettuce during the early morning hours and see if that helps. Have the lettuce plants started to bolt and go to seed? That’s when I’ve noticed plants that produce that milky fluid. Also, romaine lettuce is usually harvested by cutting the entire plant once the head is fully grown, rather than to harvest the leaves individually.
July 8th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
I live in zone 9, and am afraid that it is just way too hot most of the year for lettuce, can lettuce be grown in containers inside, as long as they sit in a sunny window? Is there a variety best suited for this?
Thanks.
July 8th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
Courtney, you can grow lettuce indoors but the plants will need plenty of sunlight or a supplemental light source such as fluorescent tubes or grow lights. I would recommend a loose leaf or cutting lettuce variety such as Salad Bowl or Oak Leaf. You could also try one of the lettuce mixes or mesclun. These cutting lettuces can be planted thickly and harvested when the plants are just four to six inches tall, then they will usually resprout and produce multiple harvests indoors or out.