MAIN Home Life Gardening Vegetables Lettuce

Along with peas and radishes, leaf lettuce is an early, cool weather vegetable and one of the easiest to grow in the home garden.

Cos or romaine lettuce are the most popular backyard leaf lettuce varieties along with the more tender butterhead types that produce smaller leaves and sweeter flavor.

Crisphead varieties like iceberg - found in produce aisles in supermarkets nationwide - are a bit more difficult to grow in the home garden.

Due to their delicate nature, lettuce seedlings are seldom found in home gardening centers, so plant the seeds directly into prepared soil, or start in pots in early spring for later transplanting in the garden. For city dwellers, leaf lettuce can even be grown in pots or containers for fresh lettuce picking year around.

Feed lightly with a diluted fertilizer in well-aerated and well-drained soil. Another key ingredient to lettuce success is partial shade, so be sure to choose an area in the garden where plants won't receive the full force of the sun at midday. To prevent "tipburn" (leaves that turn brown at the edges) water plants lightly but at frequent intervals throughout the day.

Also watch for aphids, the garden pest that particularly loves to feast on lettuce and spinach, but can be usually controlled with a mild soap or chemical spray depending on the size of the infestation.

On the Web - How to plant & grow Lettuce :

Watch Your Garden Grow - Lettuce - How to's for planting, care and maintenance, with additional information on recommended varieties, nutritional benefits, common pests and suggested remedies.

Growing Lettuce in the Home Garden - Ohio State University Extension guide to home grown lettuce with tips & advice on soil preparation, sowing & planting, watering, fertilizing and harvesting.

How to Grow Lettuce - Illustrated, step by step instructions for sowing, planting, watering and fertilizing with additional tips on pest prevention and container gardening.

BBC Gardening - Grow Salad Plants - Illustrated instructions for soil preparation, direct sowing, sowing in pots, seedling transplantation, general care & feeding, harvesting tips and a list of recommended varieties.

Lettuce - Lettuce lore, history & trivia, plus practical information on growing lettuce year round in pots and containers, with additional advice on growing from seed, transplanting to the garden, general care & maintenance, harvesting, pest prevention.

Growing Lettuce - Feature article from Natural Life Magazine with tips on soil requirements, feeding and watering, succession planting, common pests and problems with suggested remedies.

Lettuce in Containers - Brief Instructions for keeping lettuce slug and snail free by planting in planter pots indoors.

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