There is nothing more rewarding than being able to venture to your edible garden and fill a bowl with colourful lettuce to go straight into a beautiful salad! Lettuce has been loved for thousands of years and has even been depicted in tomb wall paintings by the ancient Egyptians.
Plant
- Lettuce is an easy plant to grow and can be grown all year round in just about all climates. In cooler climates, avoid planting in Winter.
- Position in full sun to part shade with 20cm spacing.
- Stagger planting to ensure a regular harvest of salad and there'll be no need to venture to the shops to buy your salad greens in a plastic wrapped bag!
- You can position lettuce under larger crops to save space!
- Plant alongside radish, bean, cucumbers, dill and carrots.
Grow
- Apply a 3-5cm layer of mulch to keep the soil moist and provide organic matter as it breaks down.
- Feed with a liquid fertiliser every 10-14 days, we love using Seasol.
- Water in the morning to prevent the plant from attracting pests or getting burned by the heat of the day.
- Water younger plants daily then reduce to 3 times a week.
- Inconsistent watering and stressed lettuce will become bitter or seed early.
Harvest
- Non-hearting lettuce varieties can be picked leaf by leaf. Pick from the outer leaves to allow the inner leave to mature. We recommend using scissors so you don't risk pulling out the roots or damaging the other leaves.
- Hearting lettuce varieties are harvested whole. Cut them at the base with a knife and leave the roots in the soil. It will sprout again but the second crop won't be as nice as the first.
Varieties
There are an abundant of lettuce varieties that differ in colour, shape and size. We recommend growing a variety to give you a flourish of shapes, colours and textures in your salad. Choose your varieties depending on your space, the climate and time of year. With careful selection and succession planting, you can have a harvest all year round. Leaf varieties are perfect for container growing and small spaces. We have divided some popular varieties into Hearted, Leaf and Cos.
HEARTED
- Iceberg - Easy to grow, hardy and reliable. Plant in Spring and Autumn.
- Great Lakes - Perfect for Summer salads! Plant in Spring and Summer.
LEAF
- Red & Green Coral - Very hardy, fast maturing and long harvest. Grow all year round.
- Oak Leaf - several different colours, very compact and good for limited space.
COS
- Green Cos - a common variety producing long leaves. Plant in Spring and Autumn.
- Diamond Gem - a compact, quick maturing lettuce, grows to 15cm tall.
