How to Grow Lettuce 

To me, lettuce is a total non negotiable when you’re deciding what to grow in your garden. It’s easy to grow, delicious, and you can keep harvesting it over and over. Plus you won’t have that awkward bag of lettuce in the back of your fridge that’s gone bad and needs to be thrown out, because you can just go harvest your own whenever you need it! Ok, let’s get into it.

Soil

Lettuce grows best in a nice sandy loam soil that has a PH of 6-7, which is classified as neutral. To add richness and nutrients, amend your top soil with organic matter. Make sure to choose a really high quality compost or manure to add to your mix. This will ensure your lettuce get’s enough food, and it will help with water retention. It’s important to not use raw/fresh manure in your garden as it can “burn” your veg and be detrimental. It can also carry bacteria that can contaminate your produce. Compost also helps regulate the acidity in your soil if your PH is below 6. 

Water

Lettuce likes water, and due to its shallow roots, it should be watered consistently so that it stays moist. This is especially important if you’re growing lettuce into the hotter months, as your lettuce will wilt quickly if there is not adequate watering. One other important reason to be consistent with watering is that your lettuce will go bitter if under-watered in the summer months. If you struggle with staying on top of watering, it can be helpful to make yourself a schedule or to put in a very simple irrigation system that will do the watering for you. Try to water in the morning before the midday heat, rather than at night as this can help prevent fungus and pests from ruining your lettuce. 

Light 

While some lettuce varieties can handle partial shade, most will require full sun to grow best. This means 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day for best results. In the hottest months of summer, you can extend your lettuce growing season by using some shade cloth in the middle of the day, or by planting your lettuce with taller vegetables and flowers that give it a little relief from the sun by providing light shade. 

Planting

Because lettuce is a cool weather crop, you’ll be planting and harvesting it much earlier than many of your warm weather vegetables like cucumbers. You can direct sow it into your garden around 2-4 weeks before your average last frost of the season, or when the soil can be worked and is no longer freezing. You can also succession plant it so that you get a longer and more consistent harvest. Lettuce seeds can germinate in temperatures as low as 40 degrees fahrenheit, so keep your eyes on the weather. If you want to plant your lettuce out even earlier, you can use cold frames to keep your lettuce protected and thriving. You can also plant it in late summer for a fall crop, and continue succession planting it if you have bed protection (like a mini hoop house, or cold frames). 

Fertilizing

Normally you want to use a nitrogen fertilizer sparingly in your garden as it promotes leaf growth over fruit growth, but this is perfect for lettuce and other greens! Fertilizing your lettuce lightly every couple of weeks with an organic fertilizer that is high in nitrogen can increase the yield and quality of your lettuce plants. Try using blood meal as a natural alternative to chemical fertilizers to keep your garden organic and thriving. Blood meal is super high in nitrogen, and it won’t harm you or any wonderful microbes and microorganisms in your garden, unlike some synthetic fertilizers. There are plenty of blood meal fertilizers on the market, so just pick a high quality one and get started feeding your lettuce. 

Harvesting 

Harvesting your lettuce is up to preference mostly. If you want to harvest super young tender lettuce leaves you can, or you can leave it for a little longer and cut it all at once at the base. I prefer harvesting my lettuce consistently by simply removing the outer leaves of each plant while leaving the interior leaves. Your plants will continue to grow and produce for you and you’ll have a constant supply of delicious lettuce. However, you can chop off the entire head, just leave an inch of lettuce leaves remaining so that more leaves can grow back. 

Pests 

There are quite a few pests that will likely find your lettuce tasty, but there are many ways to keep them at bay. These pests include beetles, aphids, caterpillars in the fall, and more. While you can usually pick off beetles and caterpillars, sometimes you have too many lettuce plants to bother with that, so using the methods below can help you keep your lettuce thriving. 

• Garlic Spray

We love homemade garlic spray because of how natural it is! We think using plants to protect other plants is really cool. Garlic has sulfur compounds including allicin that are toxic to the aphids and can mess with their sense of smell and confuse them. Garlic spray can also deter caterpillars and beetles. To make garlic spray at home, chop some garlic, one clove for every cup of water you use and cover it in boiling water. Let cool, then pour it into a spray bottle, add a little dish soap and give it a shake. Spray on affected areas of your plants every few days till you see improvements. Treat your plants on a cloudy day if you can so that the garlic oils don’t burn your lettuce. 

• Soap Spray 

Soapy spray can help with aphids, because when the aphids are sprayed down, it will suffocate and kill them. To make the spray, add about a tablespoon of natural dish soap to a spray bottle of water and give it a light shake. To use, spray all over the aphids and leave for a few hours before rinsing off with water. Continue until the aphids are gone. 

• Companion Planting

We always recommend companion planting as it’s just a wonderful way of controlling pests in your entire garden. Pollinators are the natural predator to many common garden pests, and planting flowers like French Marigold, Borage, Chamomile, Fennel, Nasturtiums, and Dill can attract them to your garden. Plant all around your garden for best results. These flowers can also act as a trap crop. 

• Row Covers

Mesh row covers can help keep your lettuce safe by blocking out pests that will eat the leaves of your lettuce like beetles and caterpillars. Drape the mesh over stakes and make sure there aren’t gaps open on the grown, because this can allow pests to get under the row covers.