How To Grow Lettuce
Whether you are growing lettuce hydroponically or from seed in your garden, nothing tastes better than home-grown lettuce.
Up next in Vegetable Gardening (24 videos)
Get your vegetable patch started with these gardening tutorials.
You Will Need
- Lettuce seeds
- Container
- Sunlight
- Soil bed
- Garden tools
- Compost
- Water
- Research (optional)
- Internet access (optional)
- Mulch (optional)
Steps
-
Step 1
Consider growing hydroponic lettuce
Consider growing lettuce hydroponically if you want lettuce throughout the year. This can be done in a greenhouse or at home in pots.
-
Search online or visit a hydroponics store for more information about using this method.
-
Step 2
Start seeds indoors
Start your seeds indoors, ¼-inch deep, ½-inch apart, in a 4-inch deep container. Start the seeds 3 to 4 weeks before transplanting outside.
-
Step 3
Choose area
Choose an area with well-draining soil where your plants will receive full sun.
-
Step 4
Prep your soil
Prepare your soil bed by breaking up the soil with garden tools, adding 2 to 4 inches of compost, and digging a ½-inch trench for the seedlings.
-
Step 5
Plant the seedlings
Plant the seedlings after the last frost, spaced according to package directions. Different varieties of lettuce require different spacing.
-
Mulch the plants in early summer to keep the soil cool and moist.
-
Step 6
Water
Water the plants on a regular basis. Avoid watering in the evening, which attracts snails and slugs.
-
Step 7
Harvest
Harvest the leaves when they are large enough to eat. Pick the leaves in the early morning when the leaves are crisp.
-
Ancient Egyptians grew lettuce for the oils that were extracted from its seeds.
