All About Growing Lettuce

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Pest and Disease Prevention Tips

• Slugs chew smooth-edged holes in outer leaves. Collect them with a gloved hand during drizzly weather, or trap them in pit traps baited with beer. You also can spray cold coffee on slug-infested plants to stop feeding.
• Aphids sometimes feed in groups between the folds of lettuce leaves. Try rinsing them away with a spray of cool water. Natural predators such as syrphid fly larvae often bring the problem under control.
• Prevent soilborne diseases by planting lettuce in the same spot no more than once every three years.

Growing Tips

• As the seedlings grow, thin leaf lettuce to 6 inches apart, thin romaines to 10 inches and allow 12 inches between heading varieties. After thinning, mulch between plants with grass clippings, chopped leaves or another organic mulch to deter weeds and retain soil moisture.
• Replace old lettuce seed yearly, because low germination is usually caused by dead seeds. Expect spotty germination from lettuce seeds that are more than one year old. 
• In late winter, grow lettuce inside a cold frame or plastic tunnel. Seedlings often survive temperatures below 20 degrees when they are protected with sheet plastic or glass.
• For extra flavor from your salad bed, sprinkle in a few seeds of dill, cilantro or other cool-season herbs.
• If your garden is small, try miniature lettuce varieties, such as ‘Tom Thumb’ or ‘Minetto.’
• Should hot weather hit just as crisphead lettuce is reaching its peak, cover the plants with a shade cover made from lightweight cloth (such as an old sheet) held aloft with stakes. If possible, cool down the shaded plants by watering them at midday.
• Never allow the soil to dry out while lettuce is growing. In most soils, you’ll need to water lettuce every other day between rains.
• Perfect lettuce does not last long in the garden, especially when the weather gets hot. Harvest lettuce when conditions are good, then store it in the refrigerator.

In the Kitchen

Bumper crops of lettuce can’t be preserved, so plan ahead for daily salads when lettuce is in season. Stock up on big flavor toppings such as olives, dried fruits, nuts and smoked salmon. Be generous with snippings of fresh herbs as you create original salads. Lettuce rolls stuffed with grain or meat mixtures, held together with toothpicks, make a great appetizer. Dark green or red lettuces have more vitamin A than varieties with pale leaves. 

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