How long does it take to grow and harvest lettuce?
Just go out to the garden and pick the amount of leaves you need, leaving the plant in the ground to keep growing. Depending on the variety it can take anywhere from 6 to 14 weeks from sowing to become ready for harvest. Lettuces are one of the easiest and more fascinating edible plants to grow in the vegetable patch.
How do I know when my lettuce is fully grown?
Ripe head lettuce has a firm, full feeling in your hands, indicating it has developed completely in the center and has little space between the layers. The outer leaves should wrap tightly around the head. Lift the head and cut it from the stem using a gardening knife.
What month should you plant lettuce?
Lettuce is a cool weather crop and is best grown in spring and fall. The seeds germinate in temperatures as low as 40 F (4 C) but its ideal germination and growing temperature is between 60 and 65 F (16 to 18 C).
How many times can you harvest lettuce?
You can begin planting leaf, romaine and butterhead lettuce as soon as the soil can be worked in the spring. Depending on the variety, lettuce germinates in temperatures between 40 to 85 degrees F. If you plant lettuce in successive plantings, with 10 to 14 days in between, you’ll have an extended harvest.
Can lettuce regrow after cutting?
Yes, lettuce leaves will grow back after cutting but only if proper care and technique are used when cutting as all vegetable lettuce follow similar annual vegetable growth cycles.
What temperature is too hot for lettuce?
Lettuce is a cool-season vegetable, meaning it grows best in temperatures around 60 – 65°F. Once temperatures rise above 80°F, lettuce will normally start to “bolt” or stop leaf production and send up a stalk to flower and produce seed. The leaves become bitter at this stage.
What month is a good time to harvest lettuce?
In spring you are rushing to get all your lettuce harvested before the heat sets in and turns the leaves bitter. But in the fall temperatures are cooling making it the perfect time for lettuce growing. And most years we can get lettuce to stay tasty until the middle of December with some protection.
What time of year does lettuce grow?
Lettuce is a cool season crop and is normally grown from March through to September. However most farmers grow lettuce all year round, trying to achieve better prices for lettuce during the summer months.
Is lettuce a short day plant?
All types of lettuce are short-day plants, which means the plants only need 10 to 12 hours of sunlight daily. For lettuce, adequate temperatures and moisture are of more concern than sunlight.
How many days until maturity?
Days to maturity information is most useful to gardeners who know their local climate and growing season well. A gardener with a short 90-day growing season can look at a packet of melon seeds and see that the plant requires 110 days to mature.