Growing Lettuce: For Garden & Market

Purpose

This guide is intended for the home gardener as well as the market grower. This guide outlines the tools and materials needed, the amount of time you will need to invest, as well as instructions on what to do, tips, and warnings. This guide will cover the entire process from planting the seed to sale or your own consumption. This guide is meant to be practical and easy to use, while at the same time providing enough depth and detail to ensure the reader has a solid grasp on the growing of lettuce and hopefully to answer any questions the reader may have. This guide is written based on my own experiences, as well as knowledge gained from various sources, most referenced will be Knott’s Handbook for Vegetable Growers.

Lettuce: Cultivars and Background Information

Lettuce is a very old crop, first cultivated by the ancient Egyptians. It is derived from a weed. From the Egyptians it spread to the Romans and Greeks and from there to the rest of the world. By the 18th century it probably reached its peak of genetic diversity and many of the heirloom lettuce varieties from that time period can still be purchased and planted today but no doubt many varieties are forever lost to us now.

There are 4 main cultivars of lettuce in common use today they are:

  • Leaf:Most common sort, used in salads, leaves from loosely, no tight head forms
  • Butterhead:Slightly tighter leaves than Leaf lettuce, known for sweet flavor, ex; Boston Bibb
  • Romaine: Forms upright heads and grows taller than other types, often used in Caesar Salads
  • Crisphead: Commonly known as Iceberg Lettuce, mainly water, low flavor, low nutrition, however remains extremely popular

Drawing by John Burgoyne available at

Tools and Materials

Field Hoe

For rough ground work, digging furrows, and breaking any clods

Seeder (Optional)

If planting any lettuce other than leaf I recommend a seeder for fast, and precise planting, however doing it by hand works just as well

Seed

My favorite Heirloom Varieties: Forellenschluss, Boston Bibb, Amish Deer Tongue

My favorite Hybrid Varieties: Johnny’s All-Star Mix

Compost (Optional)

I prefer to sprinkle compost lightly over my seed when planting but this is optional as well, covering with regular field dirt works too

Cultivating Tools

Collinear Hoe, Wheel Hoe, Tractor pull behind, etc. Cultivation is crucial for lettuce growth and helps with ease of harvesting

Harvest Knife

These are stainless steel knives used to harvest vegetables, they are sanitary and quick

Total Time to Task: Around 20 days for baby leaf lettuce, up to 45 days for head lettuce

From top to Bottom: Hoss Disk Seeder, Wheel Hoe with stirrup hoe attachment, Field Hoe, Johnny’s Collinear Hoe, Harvest Knife

Planting

Outside temperature between 45-75 degrees Fahrenheit

This is the optimum growing temperature for lettuce, it is considered “Half-hardy” anything below 45 and growth will be minimal, above 75 it will start to taste bitter and possibly bolt

Soil temperature near 60 degrees Fahrenheit

This is the optimum soil temperature for consistent, reliable germination of lettuce seed

It is important to plant your lettuce at the right time, the outside and soil temperature should be near their optimum ranges and the ground should be moist, but dry enough to still work.

With a field hoe dig a straight 1/2 “ deep furrow. Space your furrows 18 inches apart.

This establishes the space between your rows that will give your lettuce access to enough nutrients as well as give you enough room to cultivate

Plant your seeds in the furrow

Leaf Lettuce: Sprinkle seeds thickly in the furrow, spacing is not very critical

Romaine/Butterhead: Sprinkle seeds more carefully, aim for a seed every 2 inches

Lightly cover seeds in the furrow with compost

This step is optional but recommended if you have the time. It has numerous advantages:

  • It clearly allows you to see where the seeds are planted and enables more cultivation earlier without fear of accidentally killing your lettuce.
  • It significantly increases germination percentage because the compost can be put on at the optimum soil temperature. Its fine enough to ensure good soil to seed contact, and it is usually better at retaining moisture than regular field dirt
  • It ensures a steady dose of nutrients for the lettuce in the critical early stage of growth
  • It is cheap, because the compost is lightly applied a little bit goes a long way

The black lines of compost show where lettuce has been planted. Notice how it is slightly depressed compared to surrounding soil; this helps direct moisture to the seed to aid germination.

Cultivation

Cultivation is key for successful lettuce growing, it keeps pressure from weeds down, and enables the lettuce to maximize intake of available soil nutrients. Cultivation should be done before planting, 2 days after planting, every 5 days after that, and absolutely after every rain as soon as the soil is workable.

1
PLANTING / 2 / 3
CULTIVATE / 4 / 5 / 6
7 / 8
CULTIVATE / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13
CULTIVATE
14 / 15 / 16
RAIN / 17
CULTIVATE / 18 / 19 / 20
RAIN
21
CULTIVATE / 22 / 23 / 24 / 25 / 26
CULTIVATE / 27
28 / 29 / 30
HARVEST / 31 / 32 / 33 / 34

Sample Cultivation Schedule

Notice the rules of cultivation shown in the table:

  • 2 days after planting
  • Every 5 days after that
  • After every rain as soon as the soil is workable

This rule can vary, if it is a light morning shower the ground may be workable that evening, if it’s a heavy downpour it may be 2-3 days until the soil is workable again.

Harvest

The harvesting of lettuce can take place all at once, or over the course of weeks, it can even be done repeatedly depending on how it is harvested.

This Leaf Lettuce is only about 20 days old but it could still be harvested for baby lettuce salads

Steps to Harvesting

Clean and Sanitize Harvest Knife

Use harvest knife to cut lettuce at the base, just above the soil

Bag the lettuce in plastic bags or put it in a plastic harvest tub

Immerse lettuce in cold water to remove field heat and slow spoiling

Johnny’s All-Star Lettuce Mix cooled, washed, and bagged

Analysis Of Redesign

I chose to redesign the Ohio State University Extension’s Fact Sheet on Growing Lettuce (

I chose to redesign this document because it does not adequately meet the needs of its intended audience. While the document is concise and covers most points, it is too brief

And does not provide enough detail and depth for successful growing of lettuce. At the root of this document it fails to fulfill its purpose, to inform people how to grow lettuce.

The document is lacking in usability as well. There are no pictures, and very little formatting. By redesigning it to include pictures, a table, check boxes with discreet operational steps, and helpful hints inside text boxes the documents usability increases exponentially. Now it is easy to use and extremely informative. Meant to be read from start to finish, by the end of the redesigned document the reader will have a solid grasp and understanding of what it takes to grow lettuce and how to go about doing it.