How to plant lettuce in the garden

Delicious, healthy and low in calories, lettuce is a food that you always want fresh, so it is the ideal vegetable to have in a vegetable garden – by hand to sow and taste, learn to plant and grow lettuce in your own garden.

Green leaf and red leaf lettuce

There are numerous types of lettuce that are distinguished by their size and texture, but also by their color. In this sense, lettuce is divided into two main varieties: green leaf lettuce and red leaf lettuce.

Green leaf lettuce

Salad Bowl lettuce: with smooth leaves, this salad has a long shelf life after harvest; it takes between 40 and 45 days to give leaves.
Parella lettuce: small and with dark green leaves, this variety is easily grown from seeds; it takes between 45 and 50 days to give leaves.
Oak Leaf Lettuce: characterized by light green leaves, curly and tender; it takes between 45 and 50 days to give leaves.
Grand Rapids lettuce: fast growing, with large leaves, wrinkled texture and light green; it takes between 40 and 45 days to give leaves.
Bionda lettuce to Foglie Lisce: distinguished by its fast growth and very tender leaves; it takes between 40 and 45 days to give leaves.
Catalunya lettuce: characterized by light green leaves, with many veins, but tender; it takes between 45 and 50 days to give leaves.

Red leaf lettuce

Red Trent lettuce: slightly reddish, the texture of its leaves are cut; it takes between 45 and 50 days to give leaves.
Rougette de Montpellier lettuce: characterized by a wide open foot and dark red leaves; it takes between 40 and 45 days to give leaves.
Red Salad Bowl lettuce: it has leaves with wrinkled texture and a red-purple hue; it takes between 45 and 50 days to give leaves.
Cocarde lettuce: similar to oak leaf lettuce, its reddish leaves are extremely tender; it takes between 45 and 50 days to give leaves.
American Red Beaded Lettuce: its beaded leaves have a green foot and purple margins; it takes between 45 and 50 days to give leaves.
Lollo Rossa lettuce : a compact, curly and very tender lettuce; it takes between 45 and 50 days to give leaves.

Lettuce on the ground

When and how to sow lettuce? Always in the spring and after the frost season. Lettuce can be planted using both seeds and small plants previously potted – if you choose the latter, make sure that the appearance of its leaves is young and healthy and that the stem is not already very developed. Lettuce requires humus-rich, slightly alkaline, moist soil, but well drained and with direct sunlight or half shade. Easy to grow, lettuce grows quickly, reaching, on average, a width between 10cm and 40cm and a height between 10cm and 30cm, with each plant producing about 10 lettuce leaves. If you don’t have a garden or vegetable garden, know that lettuce can also be grown in a pot.

Growing a good lettuce

Lettuce is a summer and autumn vegetable, whose leaves can be harvested as needed, but the complete plant must be harvested before the first frosts, to prevent damage. Always remove the outer leaves before harvesting the complete lettuce, unless the center is hard – in this case, it means that the plant will still flower. If the lettuce is ready to be harvested, but the center is too hard, cut the plant by the foot using a knife.

Main lettuce diseases and problems

In lettuce cultivation, one of the most recurring problems is its non-growth and the formation of a floral stem – in this situation, it is important to cover the plant, keeping it in the shade until it returns to its normal development. In terms of diseases , it is the slugs that most attack the lettuce, leaving its leaves full of holes. To eliminate this pest, it is necessary to clean the garden and apply an appropriate insecticide.

From the vegetable garden to the table

A vegetable garden is not complete without lettuce, a product synonymous with summer and perfect for the thousand and one salads that serve as a meal on the hottest days of the year – harvest lettuce directly from your garden, wash, add tomatoes , season and serve! Enjoy your food!