Growing Lettuce
There are several benefits to growing lettuce in your home garden:
- Lettuce is easy to grow, making it a perfect crop for beginning gardeners.
- Lettuce grows in cool weather, making it a good spring and fall crop.
- Many types of lettuce grow quickly. Leaf lettuce grows to maturity in as little as 30-45 days, but you can often begin harvesting leaves even sooner. Other types mature in 50 to 60 days.
- Lettuce is suitable for small gardens. It grows well in containers, raised beds or garden beds. You can even grow some types of lettuce in a hydroponics system.
- Lettuce doesn’t require a lot of care. Regular, light watering, feeding, mulching and keeping an eye out for weeds and pests is usually all that’s required.
- Lettuce is very easy to harvest.
Interested in hydroponics? Take a look at our beginner’s hydroponics guide and an example of one type of hydroponics system. Or you can learn how to build your own raised bed garden with our step-by-step how to.
When Should You Plant Lettuce?
Lettuce does best — and produces the best flavor — in the cool weather of early spring and fall. Hot temperatures can give lettuce a bitter taste. The optimum temperature range is between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
- For spring planting, wait until the soil is workable — generally when the soil temperature is around 45-50 degrees Fahrenheit or a couple of weeks before the expected final frost for your area.
- For fall lettuce crops, plant in late summer, a couple of months before the first frost is expected. Time your plantings so the temperatures will be cool when the crop reaches maturity.
You can stagger plantings of fast-growing leaf lettuce varieties every couple of weeks for an ongoing harvest.
Get an idea of the frost and freeze dates for your area with our guide.
Types of Lettuce
There are four types of lettuce that are most common in home gardens:
- Butterhead lettuce forms small, loose heads of tender leaves with a soft texture.
- Leaf or loose-leaf lettuce forms leaves that rest lightly around the main stalk. This is usually the easiest type of lettuce to grow.
- Romaine, or Cos lettuce, has a somewhat loose, upright head of leaves.
- Head or crisphead lettuce, such as the iceberg variety, has leaves tightly packed into a firm head. This lettuce works best in areas with long cool seasons.
How to Plant Lettuce
These instructions will walk you through planting a lettuce garden from seed in an in-ground bed.
You can improve the quality of your in-ground garden by working in pre-packaged garden soil. For containers, look for quality potting soil. Raised beds do best with specially formulated raised bed soil. See our guide to soil and amendments for tips on getting the best from your garden.
Growing Lettuce in a Home Garden
Caring for Lettuce Plants
Lettuce is a relatively low-maintenance crop.
- Weed the planting area as needed.
- Keep the soil moist. You’ll need to water regularly, but light watering is usually sufficient to encourage the growth of succulent leaves.
- If the leaves are wilting, lightly spray them with a small amount of water.
- Get rid of pests such as aphids and snails.
- Apply slow-release plant food designed for vegetables according to package instructions.
How to Harvest Lettuce
The technique for harvesting lettuce can differ depends on the type you’re growing, but it’s a simple process. Collect your crop in the morning before the sun has a chance to wilt the leaves. Make sure your cutting tool (garden shears or knife) is clean before and after you cut away the lettuce leaves or heads.
- Butterhead Lettuce: This lettuce is usually ready to harvest between 50 and 60 days after planting. Cut the head from the stalk at soil level.
- Leaf Lettuce: You can clip off the outermost leaves as they reach maturity. This will generally be when they’re about 6 inches long. Simply cut them away close to the stem. This method of harvesting gives you a steady supply of fresh greens throughout the growing season. You can clip off newer growth for a more tender harvest. As an alternative, you can harvest the plant as a whole when it matures by cutting it at the base.
- Romaine Lettuce: You can clip off individual outer leaves once they reach about 5 inches in height. If you prefer, cut away the entire bunch at soil level once it reaches about 6 to 8 inches in height and ribs form at the base of the leaves. This will usually be around 70 days after planting.
- Head Lettuce: Harvest when the head is tight and fully formed with firm leaves, usually around 70 days after planting. Cut away the head at soil level. For the best flavor, harvest while the head retains a round shape, before it begins to lengthen.
After harvesting, rinse the leaves thoroughly with cool, clean water. If you’re storing them, blot them dry with a paper towel before placing in a refrigerator.