Lettuce, tips on growing it

A crisp head barely 8 to 12 inches across, sliced at the collar with a sharp knife, will push out new leaves for a second picking. Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) asks for little space and ordinary soil, and is ready about six weeks after sowing: keep the soil moist with light, regular watering and it stays tender and crunchy.

Lettuce at a glance

Name	Lactuca sativa
Family	Asteraceae
Type	annual
Height	8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm)
Exposure	full sun, part sun
Soil	ordinary
Harvest	around 6 weeks after sowing

Read also: health benefits and therapeutic properties of lettuce.

Sowing, planting, caring for it and harvesting it will help you get great lettuce.

Sowing lettuce, salad

Lettuce is sown in situ in rows from February to October depending on the type and species. Starting early is possible, but you’ll need to protect your seedlings from the cold with cold frames, garden cloches or tunnels.

As for sowing in the summer, germination is difficult above 70°F (20°C), so favor a cooler spot in the garden, even in the shade eventually…

It is always best to sow or plant a smaller quantity of lettuce on a regular basis, so that you may always have crunchy fresh lettuce on hand.

• Spring lettuce – sow in a nursery in February or March.
  As soon as frost spells are over, you may remove the tunnel.
• Summer lettuce – sow in situ from April to June.
• Fall lettuce – sow in situ from May to June.
• Winter lettuce – sow in a nursery from August to October.

In all cases, thin sprouts down to one every 10 to 12 inches (25 to 30 cm) as soon as the first leaves appear.

Did you know that salad and lettuce is perfectly suited to growing in pots? You’ll be able to savor it directly from your balcony or terrace.

Which lettuce to sow, and when

Lettuce is sown from February to October, but the method and the timing change with the season you are growing for. This table sets out the four sowings side by side.

Whichever season you sow for, sow a small quantity regularly rather than everything at once.

• Sow lettuce seed shallowly, covering it with only a few millimetres of fine soil or sieved compost and firming gently, since deeply buried seed often fails to emerge; many cultivars also germinate better with some light, particularly in warm conditions.
• Sow a fresh short row of lettuce every two to three weeks so that successive sowings mature in sequence rather than all at once, giving a small plot a steady supply of heads or leaves.

Planting lettuce from store-bought nursery pots

If you wish to avoid the seedling stage, it is often possible to purchase your lettuce in nursery pots with small leaves.

You can plant them in the ground, either in your vegetable patch or in a garden box on a terrace or balcony.

• Space each plant 12 inches (30 cm) apart and water regularly.
• Once again, just plant what you need and repeat planting regularly.

• When setting out lettuce from nursery pots, keep the collar level with the soil surface: burying the crown makes the base rot, while planting too high dries the roots out.
• Water the nursery pots well before planting so the rootball goes into the ground already moist, and water again immediately afterwards to settle the surrounding soil around the roots and close any air pockets.

Harvesting lettuce, salad

Harvest your lettuce, salads or romaine when their core has reached a good size.

• When harvesting, no need to remove the roots: each base will sprout new leaves.
• Best is to use a sharp knife and to slice the head of lettuce at the collar.
  Leave the white portion intact, and new leaves will quickly sprout for further harvest.
• Water regularly to keep the soil moist.
• Lettuce must be harvested before it goes to seed.

If you only need a few leaves, feel free to just harvest the ones on the outside from time to time.

Don’t delay to harvest your lettuce, because the crunchier, the better!

Lettuce varieties worth sowing

Not all lettuces suit the same sowing slot or the same salad bowl. The varieties below are widely available and cover butterheads, crispheads, cos and loose-leaf types.

Growing lettuce in winter

It is possible to harvest lettuce all season round, and even during winter.

Choose winter head lettuce varieties such as ‘Imperial Winter’, ‘Winter Marvel’, ‘Batavia Goutte de Sang’, ‘Val d’Orge’ or ‘Brune d’hiver’.

• These can be sown from August to October directly in the ground.

As soon as the cold hits, protect your seedlings and plants with a small greenhouse, a tunnel, or any other device that will help your lettuce grow even though temperatures are below freezing, providing as much light as possible. At right, light snow on lettuce leaves.

All there is to know about lettuce, salad

Rather easy to grow, lettuce doesn’t require much care during its entire growth phase, except for light, regular watering.

An annual belonging to the Asteraceae family, lettuce doesn’t deliver very energy-laden nutrition, but contains high amounts of water and an excellent omega 3 ratio.

There are also many trace elements, fibers, minerals and vitamins that our bodies require.

• In a nutshell, remember that lettuce is easy to grow and boasts high nutritional content: great assets for any gardener!
• Read also: therapeutic properties of lettuce
• Discover all our pages about lettuce

Preserving lettuce

Even though it doesn’t keep very well, it still is possible to extend its shelf-life a bit longer if you wrap it loosely in a cloth or plastic wrap and store it in the vegetable compartment of your refrigerator.

• But the best way to eat lettuce is straight from the garden to the plate!

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