Lettuce does not compete well with weeds. Like many varieties of lettuce, Batavia comes with all green or red-tinted leaves. Active growth takes place when days are between 60 to 70 degrees. From your garden beds to patio containers, these simple steps will give you a bountiful supply of crisp salad greens throughout multiple seasons. Long hot days and warm nights will trigger bolting. This limit varies from cultivar to cultivar; however, once the limit is reached, the plant will send up a flower stalk with reproduction in mind. There four kinds of lettuce for you to consider for your home garden (as well as many varieties, or cultivars). Romaine and butterhead lettuce seedlings require 6 to 8 inches between each plant. Lettuce is a cool-season crop, and seedlings can tolerate a light frost. Tipburn is often seen on lettuce when moisture is not consistent. Lettuce is sensitive to low pH. Designed with mobility in mind, they feature Gilmour’s innovative Swivel Connect. Read more about preparing soil for planting. Another class of lettuce is the Romaine types which are very popular, particularly Paris Island Cos. Space your rows 12 to 18 inches apart. It can grow up to 7 feet tall in the right soil and growing conditions. Sea lettuce species are commonly found in the saltwater aquarium trade, where the plants are valued for their high nutrient uptake and edibility. Yank the lettuce plant out, toss it on the compost pile, and replant the space with another crop like bush beans, or with another lettuce seedling. Lettuce loves cool weather. Lettuce watering should be light, frequent and consistent. These lettuce growing tips will keep your garden and salad bowl full of crisp, green lettuce. Rotating locations from year to year helps to reduce the occurrence of most diseases. • Lettuce bolts: flowers and goes to seed before it is ready to eat. Although many people assume red leaf lettuce is grown differently, growing red leaf lettuce is exactly the same as growing green lettuce. Next, you’ll plant lettuce seeds in the pot. Cool season annual vegetables, such as spinach and lettuce, bolt when chilly spring days turn into warm spring days. The ideal lettuce growing location for spring and fall is in a spot that receives full sun. Spacing lettuce close together will help to control weeds. Lettuce From a Flower Pot. If you do this, you’re missing a great opportunity. In hot summer areas, consider moving containers of romaine into partial shade as temperatures warm. Seed stems develop, and the plant begins diverting nutrients to seed production. Most gardeners rip out their lettuce plants when they bolt. Then you’ll want to fill the pot ¾ of the way with potting soil. Insecticides are one option, but traps, organic bait and hand picking provide organic solutions to these common pests. Sea lettuce is very easy to keep, tolerating a wide range of lighting and temperature conditions. Recipe by: Stella Bong. You can keep this from happening by pinching off the center of the plant. 20 minute; 10 piece(s) Easy; 1 Favorites; Rating. Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Wild lettuce (Lactuca virosa) is closely related to dandelion and is believed to have sedative and analgesic (pain-relieving) effects. The addition of organic materials, such as compost or manure, will increase drainage, provide essential nutrients and improve your lettuce growing conditions. If you’ve had trouble with lettuce growth, consider purchasing a soil test kit. Cool season annual vegetables, such as spinach and lettuce, bolt when chilly spring days turn into warm spring days. Find more gardening information on Gardening Know How: Keep up to date with all that's happening in and around the garden. In fact, you want to encourage leaf growth over rooting. Lettuce starts to "bolt" in hot conditions toward the end of the growing season. Water lettuce, also called water cabbage or Nile cabbage, is aptly named and looks like a head of the leafy greens. The plant flowers in the second year and grows a long upright stem where the flower head arises. Other types of lettuce require 6 to 8 weeks to reach full harvest size. When the weather consistently reaches 75°F/23°C many lettuce varieties will send up a flowering shoot. We’re more likely to be aggravated that we did not get it out of the ground soon enough. At the tip of the beak is a tuft of white hairs to carry it off in the wind. Once days become cooler, the shade can be removed to give plenty of sunlight to young lettuce plants. Lettuce does not like hot weather. Sign up for our newsletter. Popular cultivars include Red Sails, Tango and Slobolt. In the bolting stage, a plant stops focusing so much on producing foliage and starts to turn its attention toward reproduction, sending out a flower stalk that will … Growing lettuce is so easy, takes up little space, and you can even grow it among flowers. For some reason, when we don’t want vegetable plants to flower, such as lettuce or other greens, we call it bolting instead of flowering.   One involves holding a paper bag near the plant and shaking the flower head over it daily until most of the ripened seed is gone. When this happens, leaves can become bitter. There are cultivars that are touted as ‘bolt resistant’ and ‘summer season’ crops. Wild lettuce (Lactuca virosa), also known as “poor man’s opium” or “Lettuce Opium”, has been around for centuries. You don’t have to worry about how to pick lettuce – it’s one of the simplest vegetables to harvest. Sow lettuce in spring 2 weeks before the last frost or plant in late summer for a fall crop. Lettuce plants are largely self-pollinating, … You might not be surprised to find out that the most widely planted salad vegetable in the United States is lettuce. Named after the subtle butter flavor, this mild lettuce adds a sweet touch to salads. Depending on the variety, lettuce germinates in temperatures between 40 to 85 degrees F. If you plant lettuce in successive plantings, with 10 to 14 days in between, you’ll have an extended harvest. Thin leaf lettuce seedlings to 4 inches apart. Donate Bolted Lettuce to an Animal Shelter. If you fix a hot soup, add a few shredded leaves to it just at serving time. This is one of the most common types of wild lettuce to find and is a native plant. A lettuce plant goes through a natural growth cycle that ends with seeding. Lettuce is a cool season crop, meaning it prefers to be grown in mid to late Spring and (early) Autumn (Fall). Or, once the lettuce goes to seed you could also collect the seeds to plant for next year. Wild lettuce (also known as Lactuca Virosa) is a plant where the leaves, sap, and seed are used to make medicine.This medicinal lettuce has been widely used since ancient Greece. Aphids also spread disease and create mold issues. A strain of lettuce that looks like a cross between a dandelion and a thistle is actually an age-old painkiller. When sowing seeds directly into the soil, you should plant approximately 10 seeds per foot. You can begin planting leaf, romaine and butterhead lettuce as soon as the soil can be worked in the spring. Lettuce Plants will bolt for a variety of reasons. Crisphead, sometimes known as iceberg lettuce (iceberg lettuce is a cultivar of crisphead) is probably the most common type of lettuce you will find in supermarkets. Before the last frost or plant in late summer so it reaches when... Plants that suddenly start stretching toward the end of the US from Europe and Asia and now wild! 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