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Lettuce

Fresh crisp heads to tender, baby leaf lettuce. Lettuce is one of the easiest vegetable to grow. Growing lettuce in spring and fall is easy to do when the soil is cool. Leaf color and texture vary with variety. Lettuce grows best when the soil is kept evenly moist, and outside temperatures range between 40 and 75 degrees.

Types of lettuce

Fast growing loose-leaf types like Oakleaf, Green Ice, and Grand Rapids grow tender leaves in great abundances, but rarely form crisp heads. If you’re looking for superior heat tolerance, loose-leaf varieties are what you should be looking for.

For cold tolerance varieties Butterhead works well and Tania, Bibb, and Buttercrunch quickly form small heads of crisp leaves.

Romaine lettuce has long leaves with stiff ribs. Romaines like Valmaine, Jericho, and Parris Island Cos often handle stressful weather better than other types of lettuce.

Head lettuce includes familiar iceberg types, as well as lush and crispy Great Lakes, or Summertime, varieties which have wonderful flavor and texture, and grow great in your backyard garden.

Lettuce growing tips

Start seedlings indoors 6 weeks before your last frost date. The use of high power grow lights is not needed. standard fluorescent will work just fine. After three weeks under lights move them out to your garden.

Two weeks before your last date for frost direct seed more lettuce. Plant more lettuce every 2 to 3 weeks. If you live where your summers are warm to mild lettuce can be grown all summer. For those in hot dry locations spring and fall might be the only time for you to grow quailty lettuce.

Lettuce are open-pollinated, so saving seeds is easy. When the plant flowers and then goes to seed, staking may be necessary. When the seed head is dry, cut and place in a small bag. Using your hands, crush the seed head to remove seeds. Store the lettuce seeds in a cool dry place. Save seeds for 1 to 2 years and repeat.

Lettuce loves water, so water every other day. Never let your soil dry out when growing lettuce. I have even grown lettuce using hydroponics. Lettuce can be grown on floating rafts in your own ponds. Give it a try and you'll be shocked what you can do with lettuce.

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	Health Benefits Of Lettuce Lettuce is one of the most delicate salad plants - there is usually nothing but disappointment to be gained from trying to bring a wilting specimen back to life.

Growing Lettuce
	Preparation Using your roto-tiller to mix soil, set it to your max depth. Mix in an inch or so of good compost or well-rotted manure. Sow seeds a quarter of an inch deep and 1 inch apart in rows or squares, or simply broadcast them over the bed.

	Starting seedlings Starting your lettuce indoors is easy, sow lettuce seeds in flats or small containers kept under fluorescent lights. Harden off three-week-old seedlings for at least two or three days before transplanting helps protect your lettuce seedlings from sun and wind during their first few days in the garden.

Dinner salad
	Harvest Lettuce should be harvested in the morning, this allows the plants to regain the water that was lost the previous day. Wilted lettuce picked on a hot day seldom revives, even when rushed to the refrigerator.

	Storage Rinse your freshly picked lettuce thoroughly with cool water; try to remove excess moisture by shaking or using a salad spinner. Its also a good idea to use a lettuce knife over your regular metal knifes which may leave rust on your lettuce. Store your fresh cut lettuce it in plastic bags in the refrigerator.