Home gardening guide growhappierplants.com
Learn how to grow lettuce from seed and enjoy crisp, fresh leaves for salads and more! Get tips for sowing seeds and improving your harvest!
Varieties
There are many varieties of lettuce. Iceberg is the classic found in most salads. Romaine is a great leaf lettuce for sandwiches, and more varieties.
Seeds
Lettuce seeds are typically gray or brown, and they are long and flat.
Starting seeds indoors
Start seeds indoors about four weeks before the final frost. Plant the seeds 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep in seed starting soil. Barely cover with soil and keep temperatures between 6o and 65 degrees.
Starting seeds outdoors
After the danger of frost has past, direct sow seeds into the smooth well draining soil. Make a shallow trench and sprinkle seeds. Cover them lightly with soil and keep the soil consistently moist.
Hardening
Seeds started indoors will need to be hardened off before they can be transplanted. For a week bring them outside during the day, and back inside at night.
Spacing
For full heads of lettuce plant seedlings at least 10 inches apart. If you want to harvest without killing the seedling plant 3 inches apart, and harvest leaves from the outer edge.
Harvesting lettuce
Lettuce is ready to be harvested in about 50 days. You can continue harvesting until the plant turns bitter. Consider planting in succession to extend the harvest season.
Learn more about growing lettuce from seeds at the link below.