How to Grow Leaf Lettuce

Gardeners can choose from many varieties of leaf lettuce.

Gardeners can choose from a wide variety of leaf lettuces. Green varieties include Black-seeded Simpson, Salad Bowl and Oak Leaf, while red selections include Red Sails, Red Fire and Ruby. Choose leaf lettuce seed that has been treated with a fungicide to limit damping-off, which causes seedlings to soften and fall over at the soil line. Leaf lettuce does best in cool weather, and goes to seed quickly during hot periods. Lettuce needs lots of water for germination and seedling development, and benefits from being grown in the shade of other taller plants.

Things You'll Need

• Leaf lettuce seed
• Compost
• Garden fork
• Garden rake
• Water

Instructions

1. Remove any weeds and rocks from the planting area. Dig plenty of compost into the soil as early in the spring as it can be worked, and rake it smooth.

2. Plant the leaf lettuce seeds 1/4- to 3/8-inch deep and eight to 10 inches apart. Sow seeds more closely together if you plan on harvesting some of the leaves as baby lettuce.

3. Rake soil gently over the seeds. Water lightly so as not to disturb them. Water regularly and more heavily during hot weather.

4. Cultivate regularly between the rows of new seedlings to keep weeds down. Pull any weeds that will compete with the lettuce for water and nutrients. Pick young lettuce leaves when they reach 3 inches, as this encourages the production of more leaves.

5. Harvest the mature lettuce in 50 to 60 days, or just pick some of the larger leaves to make room for new growth. Remove any plants that have bolted -- gone to seed -- which will appear as long stalks with blossoms along the sides. Lettuce that has gone to seed usually tastes bitter.

Tips & Warnings

• Successive planting every 10 to 14 days will keep you supplied with lettuce all summer. If planted in the late summer, your lettuce will mature during the fall.

• When picking lettuce leaves, don't pull at them, or you'll uproot the entire plant. Use garden shears or kitchen scissors, and cut the leaves approximately 2 inches from the soil.

• If you planted the lettuce seed thickly, the plants will mature only if you thin them out by uprooting every three to four seedlings. Leave the recommended space of eight to 10 inches between some of the plants as you're thinning if you want full bunches.

References

• USA Gardener: How to Grow Leaf Lettuce
• University of Illinois Extension: Watch Your Garden Grow -- Lettuce
• NC State University Extension: Lettuce Production