vegetable

Lettuce

The crop that makes a first garden feel like a garden. Sow in spring and again in late summer.

Sun

Sun to part shade

Spacing

6–8 in

Days

30–55

Zones

3a–10b

How to sow

Direct-sow or start 4 weeks before last frost. Sow again in late summer. Keep the seedbed wet.

Harvest

Cut-and-come-again on leaf types. Morning harvest tastes sweeter.

Mistakes that waste a packet

• One sowing in May and none in August
• Letting it sit through a heat wave
• Planting too deep

Three packets

• Black Seeded Simpson

  Beginner

  Cut-and-come-again. Hard to fail.

  Get seed at Seeds Now

• Buttercrunch

  Flavor

  Tender heads that hold in the heat a little longer.

  Get seed at Botanical Interests

• Rouge d'Hiver

  Short season

  A winter lettuce. Sow it for fall.

  Get seed at True Leaf Market

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