Why I'm Never Buying Lettuce Again!

Those sad bags of lettuce that you can buy in the supermarket have been washed, chopped, hauled across the country, and left sitting around till all that’s left is a pale, limp imitation of what lettuce should really taste like. But once you grow your own you realize lettuce can be fresh, crisp, and sweet when cut mere moments before you eat it.

I’m going to show you why homegrown lettuce is so much better, how to grow loads of it in even a small space, and the simple way to keep harvesting more than you’ll ever need. Lettuce begin!

How to Sow Lettuce Indoors

Lettuce is very forgiving to grow, just so long as it’s not waterlogged. You can sow into plug trays, soil blocks, seed snails, or even directly into the ground. I like to use a plug tray filled with all-purpose potting mix, sifted to remove any lumps and (although not strictly essential) mixed with a little perlite to help with drainage, which the lettuce seedlings will appreciate.

To sow, make a very shallow depression in the surface of the potting mix, barely a quarter inch (0.5cm) deep. Lettuce actually prefers light to germinate, so we don’t want to bury the seeds too deep. Drop two to three seeds per plug, and then cover them over ever so slightly. Lettuce seeds are tiny and yet, in just 30 to 40 days, each little seed will become lunch. I love that!

Alternatively, to save a little space while the seedlings are still very young, sow seeds into a small pot. Once they germinate, carefully transplant individual seedlings into plug trays or small pots. Water them carefully to set the stopwatch ticking.

Ideally you want just one lettuce seedling in each plug, so either pull out the excess or, to avoid disturbing the roots of nearby seedlings, snip off the smallest to leave the strongest one in each plug.

And that’s pretty much as complicated as it gets! If you can sprinkle salt on food, you can sow lettuce. Which leads, rather neatly, onto the first reason I’m never buying lettuce again: it’s ridiculously easy to grow!

Is Lettuce the Ultimate Homegrown Crop?

If I had only one garden bed I would probably dedicate it to salads such as lettuce, because you get so much from a compact space and it saves you a small fortune on store-bought leaves. And that’s because lettuce grows fast! You can harvest it literally weeks after sowing, and you can keep picking it continuously. And, of course, anything you grow yourself can naturally be organic – no nasty chemicals needed!

Lettuce can grow from spring, through summer, and on into autumn – and, with a little protection in cooler climates like mine, it’ll even grow throughout the winter too. This obliging salad even tolerates some shade. What a superstar!

Unlike, say, peppers or squash, you don’t have to wait all season for one big payoff - lettuce starts giving almost immediately. Plant it today and harvest within a month. That’s pretty much lightning speed!

But perhaps the most compelling reason of all is taste. Lettuce you’ve grown yourself is sweet, nutty, crisp and juicy. Supermarket lettuce can’t come close because lettuce quickly loses flavor once it’s been harvested. But when you cut lettuce to enjoy the same day, it’s alive and vibrant!

Just one garden bed can produce lettuce over a full season. After the initial setup, the return on investment is gargantuan - you’re not just growing food, you’re printing money!

Types of Lettuce to Grow

Yet another reason why gardeners win is that supermarkets have to sell lettuce that ships well, while we can concentrate on growing lettuces that taste incredible. So let’s have a look at a few of the options open to us as home growers.

First up is loose-leaf lettuce. It’s fast growing, frilly and colorful, and perfect for regular harvesting – and we’ll be looking at the best ways to harvest lettuce to keep it producing for longer in a bit.

Then there’s cos or romaine lettuce. This is my personal favorite. Why? Just be-cos! No seriously, it's crunchy, heat tolerant, and really first-rate for the heartiest salads.

Butterhead lettuce on the other hand is soft, sweet and tender – these are restaurant-level greens! And don’t forget crisphead or iceberg-style lettuces, bursting with juiciness and crunch.

But better still, why not grow all of them? And mix things up with red, green and even speckled varieties, different textures, and different flavors. There are literally hundreds of different lettuces to choose from, which means that a salad from your garden isn’t just lettuce, it can be a true work of art.

Direct Sowing Lettuce Seeds

Plant into a spot that basks in morning sun but that gets a little afternoon shade, especially if you get hot summers, because lettuces tend to bolt when it gets too hot (I’ll go into more detail on this shortly), so they’ll stay cooler when temperatures ramp up after midday.

You can sow into plug trays or pots as we’ve already seen, or a second option is to direct-sow lettuce where it will ultimately grow. This way of sowing lettuce seeds is perfect where we’re sowing a mixture of cut-and-come-again types (lettuces that can be harvested little and often over a longer period) or when we’re growing more open, loose-leaf heads of lettuce that won’t form a tight head.

Before sowing, prepare the soil by spreading well-rotted compost across the surface to help retain that all-important soil moisture during the warmer summer months, while supplying slow-release nutrients that lettuces love. Sprinkle your seeds directly into drills (shallow trenches), then very lightly cover them over as before. Water them in.

After the initial watering, keep the soil consistently moist to ensure speedy germination and steady growth. Once the little seedlings pop up, pull out some of them to give those remaining more space to grow, thinning to at least a few inches (5cm) between plants.

How to Transplant Lettuce

For lettuces sown in plug trays, there’s an extra step – transplanting into the soil. Prepare your bed with compost, and then when planting you can also tickle a little blood, fish and bone into the soil. Lettuces love nitrogen to power all that leafy growth, and this’ll offer plenty of that.

Dig a small hole for each seedling and pop it in, firming the soil gently around the roots. Plant them roughly 10in (25cm) apart, which should give them enough elbow room, though they can go closer than this if you’re not too fussed about having the biggest leaves or the largest heads. Give them a thorough watering to settle the soil around the roots to help them bed in.

And that’s it pretty much it. Lettuce doesn’t demand much. Keep the soil evenly moist, but should it wilt, don’t panic – just water it, and it’ll bounce back.

Lettuce seedlings can be planted at any point from say two to four weeks old – whenever they’re big enough to handle. Transplanting gives you control, because you can start those seeds off indoors while outside space is still occupied by other crops. And this way of starting lettuce is perfect for succession planting: sowing new seeds every two to three weeks means constant harvests – no gaps, just lusciously filled salad bowls!

As a side note, I reckon lettuce beds should always contains some flowers too. Plants like calendula, zinnia, and alyssum will attract beneficial bugs and their close proximity will dramatically reduce the risk of aphids destroying your lettuce.

Lettuce is also perfect for containers. They’re really shallow-rooted, so they’re happy in just about any container.

When to Grow Lettuce

Like me, lettuce much prefers cooler weather, which means spring and autumn are prime growing time. Once temperatures start pushing past 80°F (27°C), lettuce thinks “That’s enough of growing leaves – time to start the next generation!” It bolts (shoots up a flower stalk), and it’s at this point that leaf production stops and the leaves that remain turn bitter-tasting.

So here’s how to get around that. If you’re sowing in spring, start early – there’s no sense in delaying things. I like to sow from late winter onwards, sowing more at three-week intervals to ensure a steady supply.

I try to pick a spot to grow lettuce that’s well-shaded by surrounding plants, but if they are growing in full sun, in the height of summer it’s a good idea to deploy some sort of shading to help keep things cool. That could be purpose-sold shade cloth, or a homemade setup.

Keep sowing right up until early autumn, just before temperatures start to cool off, finishing with more winter-hardy varieties. You can often tell which varieties these are by their names – think ‘Winter Density’, ‘Arctic King’ or ‘Ice Queen’.

Growth slows down as the chill of winter starts to bite, but you can still ensure the occasional harvest by adding some sort of protection over your lettuces. A low tunnel or a cold frame can extend your harvest by literally months.

In many climates, you can grow lettuce for eight to ten months of the year, and many gardeners manage nearly year-round. That’s not a seasonal crop, that’s a staple!

How to Harvest Lettuce

Harvesting is where this whole lettuce-growing mission turns, quite frankly, magic, because there are several ways to harvest lettuce depending on what you want from your plants.

One of the simplest methods is called ‘cut-and-come-again’, where you simply snip or click off the outer leaves between your finger and thumb while leaving the centre of the plant intact. Because the growing point remains untouched, the plant continues producing new leaves. This means you can harvest from the same plant multiple times, extending your harvesting window over weeks, or even months. You cut – and it keeps coming again!

Another option is to just cut right across the entire plant about one or two inches (3-5cm) above the soil surface. This means the growing point remains, so the lettuce can regrow to give another flush of fresh leaves a few weeks on.

Or, simply pull up the whole lettuce. This is usually done when you’re growing head-forming varieties so you have a complete, beautiful head of lettuce to bring into the kitchen. And there’s nothing more satisfying than slicing into a perfect head of lettuce you’ve grown yourself. It feels so decadent!

Once harvested, separate out the leaves then soak them in cold water, which also freshens them up on a hot day. Swish them around to remove any bits of soil or lurking bugs. Then it’s just a matter of draining off the leaves and either flicking or patting them dry or, better still, giving them a spin-dry in a salad spinner.

Store clean lettuce in either a lidded container lined with a dry paper towel to absorb excess moisture, or in a simple food bag. Stored well, lettuce easily lasts a week in the fridge, though I’m sure it’s unlikely to last that long because you’ll be snaffling it up way before then!

For me, the value of growing lettuce goes even further than flavor and saving money. There’s something so simple yet so powerful about stepping outside, cutting a bowl of greens, and walking straight back into the kitchen with them. It’s a fantastic way to feel connected with the natural world.

So I’m never buying lettuce again – not because I can’t, but because I don’t want to. No more sweaty bags of mediocrity I say - lettuce be at one with the glory of growing our own!

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