Lettuce
Start a vegetable garden - Lesson 3: Lettuce
Lettuce belongs to the aster or sunflower family. It has nice little yellow flowers when you let it blossom. Lettuce was first cultivated by the Egyptians and later by the Greeks and Romans. More varieties were developed in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century and these lettuce cultivars can still be found in gardens.
I grow lettuce the entire year through. You can sow from March to October. From April to August you can sow directly in the soil outside, but in the season i always sow some lettuce seeds in a pot every two weeks. When seedlings are about an inch tall they are planted single in pots and after about one month planted out in the garden. I plant them on places where other crops have grown. In this way you can have fresh salad every day, with little effort and minimal costs.
I overwinter some plants in the greenhouse and when the winter is not too cold, they easily survive and give harvest in late autumn or in early spring. Lettuce tolerates some night frost but not enduring frost.
The summer crop is sensitive to shooting (forming flowers) when the weather is too hot and dry.
Sow in moist, fertile soil but you don't give new compost to the soil where you plant lettuce. When the weather is hot make sure that you water them well. I often plant lettuce between pole beans. In that way they get enough shade and they fill up the space that otherwise could not be used. Don't plant lettuce to deep as the leaves will rot, and don't plant it too high because the plant will remain weak.
Gallery
One of several cultivars of lettuce. This plant is not fully grown yet.
Lettuce, almost blossoming
Lettuce ready to plant out. This is something you can do easily even if you have a small garden. I sow some lettuce seeds in a pot every two weeks. When seedlings are about an inch tall they are planted single in pots and later planted out in the garden. I plant them on places where other crops have grown and i don't add any new fertilizer or compost. Now it's just waiting to harvest them. In this way you can have fresh salad every day, with little effort and minimal costs.
Seeds of lettuce (Black German)
Lettuce seeds
Iceberg lettuce in a cold frame, sown in September, photo taken in February, survived during strong frost under an extra sheet of plastic.
Iceberg lettuce in a greenhouse, sown in September, photo taken in February, survived during strong frost under an extra sheet of plastic.
See also
External links
- Lettuce Wikipedia
