Lettuce is a cool season crop that prefers moist soil. There is nothing like being able to walk out to the garden for your own salad! Plan to plant additional crops though, as your Spring plants will eventually become bitter in the heat. Get around this by planting a second crop about three weeks after your first crop and again in August for a Fall harvest. We tend toward the leaf lettuce types (as opposed to head types) because you can keep harvesting a portion of the leaves and leave the main plant to grow more.
Varieties:
Arugula: (40 days) Leaves are peppery, flowers are edible.
Buttercrunch: (65 days) Popular, top-quality variety is easy to grow and yields tender 4” rosettes. All-America Selections winner.
Bistro Blend: (50 days) A gourmet loose leaf blend of exotic leaf shapes with red and green variations
Gourmet Blend: (45-60 days) Spicy mix includes arugula, mustard greens and an assortment of lettuces in an array of colors, shapes, textures, and tastes. Harvest for ‘baby greens’ after about 30 days.
Red Sails: (50 days) Loose leaf type that offers burgundy red leaves with a mild, non-bitter taste. Slow to bolt.
Simpson Elite: (55 days) Loose leaf type with tasty, light green curled leaves. Long-holding with a non-bitter flavor. Improved over traditional ‘Simpson’ in that it is slower to bolt.
