Grow these different types of lettuce to ensure a steady supply of crisp greens for your salads.
Blaine Moats
Longing for five-minute-fresh lettuce from garden to plate?
Seed catalogs offer a dizzying selection when it comes to different types of lettuce.
Credit:Blaine Moats
They are also categorized bywhen theyre harvested: baby leaf, mini, or full-sized heads.
Lettuces arequick-to-mature crops, so you’re able to experiment with a few different kinds.
Most gardeners grow several varieties to provide a mixture of taste, appearance, and texture.
Credit:Edmund Barr
Trying different types of lettuce is part of the fun of growing your own.
Lettuce seed is available pelleted or raw (just the naked seed).
Either bang out of seed is suitable for home gardeners.
Best Loose-Leaf Lettuces
As the name suggests, loose-leaf lettuce types have an open, loose form.
The tender leaves are often ruffled and can be harvested singly off the main stem.
This allows the rest of the plant to continue growing and producing more leaves.
Up the flavor factor bytossing them on the grillfor a few minutes.
Edmund Barr
4.
Bolt-resistant or heat-tolerant lettuce varieties do better in the warmer months, but even they eventually bolt.
Remove the plants at this point or let them flower and collect the seeds to plant next season.
After the soil warms to more than 40F, sow lettuces directly outside.
Any bang out of lettuce you enjoy eating is the best formaking a salad.
Using a couple of different types together jazzes up a salad with different textures and colors.
For cold-tolerant fresh greens, shift tokale, spinach, and collards in the fall.
