How to Grow Lettuce
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Lettuce is a very easy vegetable to grow, That is why it is one of the easiest and most popular vegetables to grow after tomato. It requires less space and time to grow and harvest.
Where to Plant Lettuce
Lettuce can be grown in full sun or partial shade indoors in containers or in the garden bed. In the spring and fall full sun is great for Lettuce, In the summer partial shade it better. It’s best to plant lettuce in an area that has part sun. I like to plant my lettuce around other taller vegetables like Corn and Tomatoes. These plants give the lettuce a little shade.
When to Plant
Lettuce is a cold season crop that prefers the light cold weather. Spring and Fall
are ideal times to plant and grow lettuce.
It is spring now and it is time to start growing vegetables that do well in the spring, Like lettuce or Salad mix lettuce. Starting seeds indoor helps you get seedlings before the beginning of the growing season at a far lower cost than buying at a store. Even vegetables like lettuce that do well in cold spring weather can be started indoors in the winter or early spring and transplanted into the garden or containers.
How to Plant Lettuce
You can plant your lettuce in a row or randomly in your garden. If you plant them in a row give the lettuce a little room( between 4 and 12 inches) between plants.
Soil Type
Lettuce does well in a well drained and composted soil. it is recommended to add compost or other organic fertilizer a few weeks after transplanting lettuce seedlings
With Lettuce You can do succession planting to be able to have lettuce harvest all season long. In order to do that, you’ll want to plant a few seeds and then a week or two later plant a few more. This way your lettuce will be ready to harvest at different times instead of having them all at once.
Watering and Care
Lettuce like moist soil, Lettuce does not do well when the soil is too wet or too dry. Weed can greatly hinder the growth of your lettuce, Make sure to remove any weeds around lettuce and be careful when removing large weeds around lettuce because you might off root the lettuce.
Harvesting Lettuce
Even though you can harvest Lettuce at any time during the growing stage, there is a better way to harvest it so that you continue to get lettuce. That is you can remove the larger outer leaves when you just need a few leaves of lettuce and the rest of the leaves will continue to grow. after a couple of weeks, the leaves would regrow back to what it was. You can also cut the whole head of lettuce or pull it off the ground. If you cut it off the bottom will start regrowing again.
Ways to Germinate Seeds
- You can germinate seeds the regular way by planting the seeds in the
ground or in a seed starting tray and let it grow slowly or. - The second option is faster, You can get an even faster jump on your gardening by using the paper towel method to start your seeds. The paper towel method cuts the germination time by as much as 70%. Read my post on how to germinate seeds fast. because most lettuce seeds are very tiny, if you use the paper towel method, you will not be able to easily pick the seeds and plant it in a container. But what you can do is sprinkle seed starting mix on top of the germinating sheets.
- You can germinate seeds the regular way by planting the seeds in the
ground or in a seed starting tray and let it grow slowly or.
Planting lettuce seed in a container
It is extremely easy to germinate lettuce seeds. all you need is seed starting
mix or good composted soil and water. It just requires very few steps to follow.
Things you will need:
Seeds, seed starter mix or potting mix, Container Or watering cans
The Process
Fill your container with good quality seed starting mix or potting mix
Make a few rows 14 inches apart or plant it 14 inches apart and a quarter inch deep.
plant your Seeds in the row and cover it with soil or seed starter mix.
tap down the soil lightly to keep the seeds in place.
water the container or bed with a sprayer making sure you don’t displace the Seeds.
After a few days, your Seeds will germinate.
after about three weeks thin out the ones that are not doing well and space the seedling in your garden or transplant some to other beds or containers.
