When should I plant lettuce?

Are you asking yourself "When to start growing your lettuce?" Well, you have come to the right place. The time to start sow obviously depends on where you are in the world. However, you can use weather and temperature as an indicator when it is the right time to plant your lettuce.

In short, you can start your first batch of lettuce in spring. Start sow lettuce in cold frames or tunnels six weeks before your last frost date. It is usually a good idea to also start seeds indoors under lights at about the same time, and move them outside when they are 3 weeks old. Lettuce seeds typically sprout in two to eight days when soil temperatures range between 55°F (12°C) and 75°F (24°C) degrees.

When you reach the fall, you can sow all types of lettuce at two-week intervals starting eight weeks before the first frost. If there's only one month left before the first frost is to arrive, you should only sow cold-tolerant butterheads and romaines a they are more resilient.

What type of lettuce should I choose?

So you want to grow your own lettuce? There are many types of lettuce, here is a list to help you choose the right one for you. Lettuce is an excellent plant to grow yourself and usually has high success rate.

Looseleaf Lettuces

Looseleaf Lettuces are colorful, easy, and fast-growing lettuce varieties. The plants form open heads that allow you to harvest a few leaves at a time, or whole plants as needed.

Looseleaf lettuces go from seed to baby salads in 5 weeks, seed to salad in 7. Cut them off 1” above the ground with a pair of scissors, and looseleaf lettuce varieties will resprout in a couple weeks to give you a second cutting. 

	‘Red Oak Leaf’ and ‘Green Oak Leaf’ (50-55 days) are two classic leaf lettuces. Slower to bolt than other leaf lettuce varieties, they also stay tender longer and take longer to become bitter.
	‘Red Salad Bowl’ (50 days, some frost tolerance) has loose, open heads of deep-red, frilly leaves. Good for early spring sowing.
	‘Red Sails’ (52 days, slow-bolting, resists tipburn) has rouge-tinged green leaves, and resists bolting longer than other leaf lettuces. Doesn’t turn bitter till it forms a flower stalk.
	‘Blushed Butter Oak’ (55 days) forms loose, open heads of rose-tinged, oak-shaped leaves.

Butterhead Lettuces

Butterhead Lettuces form loose, open heads of melt-in-your mouth leaves. They thrive in the warm days of fall, and the cool days from spring to early summer.

‘Merveille des Quatre Saisons’(55-60 days)—also called ‘Continuity’ and ‘French Four Seasons’—is one of my favorite butterhead lettuce varieties. A French heirloom, it has green leaves tinged with red or bronze, and the leaves stay tender even when they’re bigger than your hand. Can be grown all year round in mild-winter gardens.
‘Santoro’ (55-60 days) is a butterhead with heavier, thicker leaves. It’s great in a salad, but has enough substance to stand up to a sandwich. ‘Santoro’ takes longer to turn bitter and bolt than most butterhead varieties, and will sometimes give you a thirdcutting in harvesting.
‘Drunken Woman Frizzy Headed’(Open Pollinated, 55 days) has pale green crinkled leaves tinged with rose or red (rose colors when grown in partial shade, red in sun). I had to try it because of the name, and I’m glad I did because it’s a beautiful, succulent leaf lettuce.
‘Speckles’ (50-55 days) has beautiful green leaves shot with red patches that make a great addition to any salad. It’s a cross between a green butterhead and Forellenschluss romaine, below.
‘Blushed Butterhead’ (Open Pollinated, 50-55 days) forms loose, rose-tinged heads of soft, buttery leaves. One of the best butterhead lettuces I’ve grown.
‘Garden Babies’ (50 days) grow into perfect little domes of soft leaves. Great for growing in pots, window boxes, and vegetable container gardens.
‘Flashy Butter Oak’ (54 days) forms loose, buttery heads of green, oakleaf-shaped leaves that are splashed with red, like ‘Speckles’ above. Slow to bolt and become bitter.
‘Skyphos’ (45-50 days) is one of the most beautiful lettuces I’ve grown. It has pale green leaves near the core, and shades of rose through the middle, deepening to red at the edges.
‘Matchless’ (50 days) forms loose, delicate heads of soft green leaves.
‘Torenia’ (54 days) forms loose, buttery heads of light green, melt-in-your-mouth leaves.

Cos (Romaine) Lettuce

Cos (Romaine) Lettuces form open, upright heads of deeply colored leaves. The leaves have stronger flavor than looseleaf varieties, and crunchy midribs. As long as they get enough water, romaine lettuces can withstand some summer heat.

'Breen' (55 days) is a red "baby" romaine that grows 6-8" high, and is great for salad tables and window boxes.

‘Jericho’ (57 days) has beautiful, deep-green leaves, and stays sweet even hot summer weather. Resistant to tip burn and lettuce mosaic virus.

‘Flashy Trout Back’ (55 days) is an Austrian heirloom romaine, also known as ‘Forellenschluss’ romaine. It has striking green leaves shot with red patches, similar to ‘Speckles’ butterhead above) and is very tender for a romaine. Beautiful and delicious in any salad. Moderate bolt resistance.

Buttercrunch Lettuce

Buttercrunch Lettuces are crosses between butterhead and romaine varieties. They have a more upright structure, so fewer leaves are in contact with the soil when the weather turns cold, wet and dark. Buttercrunch lettuces are less subject to the leaf rots that can afflict butterhead lettuces in late fall.

‘Buttercrunch’ (Open Pollinated, 48 days) forms tight, compact green heads of fan-shaped leaves. Excellent bolt resistance. A good choice for growing lettuce in summer.

‘Winter Density’ (54 days) is a frost-tolerant bibb-romaine (buttercrunch-style) that has thick, dark-green leaves in a vertical rosette.

There you go, a lot of choices, it is up to you to make the decision best on your own taste preference. However, if you are totally new to growing then start out with one of the more popular choices, like little gem lettuce. 

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