LETTUCE
The salad bar special . Plain or frizzy leaves, red, green or variegated leaves, inside or outside types, spring, summer, autumn or winter harvest, crisp icebergs, softer butterheads or crunchy cos types ‘cut and come again’ or whole head types – they are all here to offer the most attractive and varies salads imaginable.
Lettuce seeds can be sown in modules, seed trays or direct into the growing site and thinned to the required spacings as soon as possible. Rows should be about 30cm apart and the seed sown 1cm deep. Small lettuces can be spaced at 15-20cm distances, whilst larger crispheads will need 30-35 cm. Regular watering is essential especially the 7 – 10 days before maturity. Lettuces mature quickly, butterheads at about 10 weeks and crispheads and cos types at around 14 weeks. They will not stand for more than 5-7 days once mature before running to seed, so successional sowing or the use of the ‘cut and come again’ types is required. Sowings begin in February under glass at 15 degrees C followed by outdoor sowings under cloches until late autumn sowings for overwinter production uses cloches and glasshouse. Germination difficulties may be experienced in July and August as lettuce seed will go into dormancy if sown in very hot weather.
Planting Depth: Some resources suggest planting seeds by covering lightly with soil while others suggest a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch
Planting Spacing: Thin seedlings to 10 cm (4 in) apart for leaf lettuce [1 sq. m (9/sq ft)] and 6 to 8 inches (200 mm) apart for Cos or Butterhead (4/sq ft - 1/sq ft), transplant Crisphead seedlings 10 to 12 inches (300 mm) apart in the row (1/sq ft).
Row Spacing: 12 - 18 inches apart