Simple Tips that Can Help You Grow Lettuce

Know all about growing lettuce inside and outside your house

Many people have vegetable gardens where they like to grow all kinds of different vegetables, one of the most popular being lettuce. Why do so many people like to grow lettuce over other vegetables? Simple; lettuce is a vegetable that is used in many green salads from gourmet recipes to traditional ethnic and American salads.

What is lettuce?

Lettuce is a green leafy vegetable that is grows into a ball shape and is similar to cabbage. Lettuce comes in all different varieties and sizes.

1. Arugula lettuce is a gourmet lettuce that can be identified by dark peppery leaves that have a uniform color. Arugula is usually a variety of lettuce that is used to accent other varieties of lettuce in a green salad.

2. Butter or Boston lettuce is the most common variety of lettuce found all over the continental United States and Europe. This variety of lettuce is the typical lettuce that most of you are familiar with. This lettuce is similar to cabbage, but the leaves are thinner and a different shade of green than cabbage. Furthermore, Boston or butter lettuce is more elliptical than cabbage. Butter or Boston lettuce is a light green to white in color.

3. Mache is another common variety of lettuce that is also known as either corn salad or lamb’s lettuce. This variety of lettuce is a smaller and has more body than leaf. The leaves are of a rosette shape with dark green hues. This is a beautiful variety of lettuce and can be used to accent other salads.

4. Mizuna lettuce is a variety of lettuce that comes from Asia. This is a great variety for those of you who like to have Asian flavor to your salads. This variety of lettuce has a bit of spice in flavor and has spiky green leaves.

There are many more different varieties of lettuce. Some of them have color, such as Kyle lettuce, and give great color as well as flavor to your salads. Other varieties are used together with croutons to make Caesar salads.

How do you grow lettuce?

Lettuce is a vegetable that is usually grown by seed. You can seed lettuce outside after it does not freeze anymore. Furthermore, if you are one of those who like to get an early start on your vegetable growing season, start seeding the lettuce inside during mid February. To plant lettuce seeds inside:

1. Preparation is very important for growing lettuce from seeds inside during the winter. You should save the empty flats from the annuals that you buy at the beginning of the summer. You need these flats for seeding the lettuce in the winter.

2. Place soil filled flats in a part of your house which receives the most sunlight. You should use a good organic soil mix to seed your lettuce.

3. Poke small holes in the soil and place the individual seeds in the holes and bury them. Seeds should not be buried very deep. Keep the soil moist.

4. Seeds will germinate in two to three weeks after planting. At this stage you should keep the soil moist but make sure not to over-water. Over-watering can cause the seedlings to die.

5. Keep the fledgling lettuce inside until late May when there is the least risk of a hard freeze. It is always warmer inside than outside in the late winter and early spring.

6. After tilling your vegetable garden in late May or early June, you should plant the seedlings in your vegetable garden to mature in the full summer sun.

Planting lettuce inside in the late winter or early spring can give you an early advantage and provide you a better yield of lettuce in the summer months.

Can I plant lettuce seeds outside too?

Yes, you can. The only difference is that seeds cannot be planted outside until late May or early June in the northern climates. In the more southern climates such as Tennessee and further south, you could seed your lettuce outside as late as late April. Before seeding your lettuce outside, you need to do the following things to prepare your garden:

1. Tilling and fertilizing your garden should be the first thing to do before you plant anything in it. Usually you should till the garden with a rototiller and then add lime to neutralize the pH balance of the soil and then mix the dirt with good compost and manure.

2. Plant the lettuce seeds in small holes in the ground that are no deeper than an inch. You must keep the soil moist and water occasionally when you see that the soil is dry.

Lettuce is a vegetable that grows rather fast and you can harvest the lettuce as soon as it gets big enough to cut the leaves off. You can then till that area and seed again. Doing so should lead to having two harvests a year.

Lettuce is a wonderful vegetable for salads, sandwiches and accents for appetizers. Furthermore, lettuce is relatively easy to grow in your garden.

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