If you haven’t tasted fresh, homegrown lettuce, you’re missing out. It’s far superior to the store-bought alternative in both taste and vitamin A content. We’ll show you how to sow, plant, care for, and harvest this versatile salad vegetable.

Lettuce is quick-growing, fuss-free, and can be grown just about anywhere. Grown for its luscious leaves, there’s a cornucopia of both hearting and loose-leaf varieties to explore. 

About Lettuce

Lettuce needs little introduction. Grown for its luscious leaves, there’s a cornucopia of both hearting and loose-leaf varieties to explore. Lettuces that form dense heads for harvesting whole include creamy butterhead types, upright romaine and cos lettuces, and the classic, crunchy iceberg. Looseleaf lettuces can be harvested whole or a few leaves at a time, ‘cut-and-come-again ’-style. Choose from the classic salad bowl lettuce, handsome oakleaf types, or any number of other colorful leaves that’ll brighten vegetable beds and ornamental borders alike.

Lettuce is a cool-season crop growing well in most regions in the spring and fall. This crop is perfect for beginners; it’s easily sown by seed directly in the soil as soon as the ground can be worked. Because lettuce grows quickly, the best approach is to plant a small amount of seeds at a time, staggering the plantings. 

How to Plant Lettuce

• Sowings may be made directly into prepared soil or into module trays of multipurpose potting soil. To sow direct, remove any weeds then rake the soil level to a fine, crumbly texture. Mark out shallow drills, 8 to 12 inches or 20 to 30cm apart, using a stringline as a guide if this helps. Then sow the tiny seeds in clusters—a pinch of seeds every four inches or 10cm. Backfill the seed drills, label with the variety and water.
• Since the seed is so small, a well-tilled seedbed is essential. Stones and large clods of dirt will inhibit germination.
• Plant seeds 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch deep. Lettuce seeds need light to germinate, so don’t sow them too deep. 
• Seeds may be sown in single rows or broadcast for wide row planting (loose-leaf varieties are best for this). When broadcasting, thin 1- to 2-inch tall seedlings for the proper spacing.
• Spacing between plants depends on the variety:
  • Loose-leaf lettuce: Plant or thin to 4 inches apart.
  • Romaine (cos) and butterhead (loose-head, Bibb, Boston) lettuce: Plant or thin to 8 inches apart.
  • Crisphead (iceberg) lettuce: Plant or thin to 16 inches apart.
• Set rows of lettuce 12 to 15 inches apart.
• Sow additional seeds every 2 weeks for a continuous harvest. 
• Consider planting rows of chives or garlic between your lettuce to control aphids. They act as “barrier plants” for the lettuce.
• Water thoroughly with a mist nozzle at time of transplanting or seeding. 

For a fall crop, cool the soil in August by moistening it and covering it with a bale of straw. One week later, the soil under the bale should be a few degrees cooler than the rest of the garden and ready to be sown with a 2-foot row of lettuce. Repeat the process every couple of weeks by rotating the straw bale around the garden. As autumn temperatures decline, seed as usual for a fall harvest.