Lettuce greens are so easy to grow, so nutritious, and so delicious picked fresh from the garden, that everyone should grow them. Grow lettuce in the vegetable garden, tuck it into flowerbeds, or cultivate it in containers.

With regular watering, shade from hot sun, and succession planting, you can enjoy home-grown lettuce almost year-round in much of the country. From baby leaf lettuce to big, crisp heads.

Planting And Care:

You should be able to sow additional seeds every two weeks for a continuous harvest throughout the growing season

Fertilize 3 weeks after transplanting

Lettuce prefers soil that is high in humus, with plenty of compost and a steady supply of nitrogen to keep if growing fast

Use organic alfalfa meal or a slow-release fertilizer

To plant a fall crop, create cool soil in August by moistening the ground and covering it with a bale of straw

A week later, the soil under the bale will be about 10 degrees F (6 degrees C) cooler than the rest of the garden

Sow a three foot row of lettuce seeds every couple of weeks just rotate the straw bale around the garden

Make sure soil remains moist but is well-drained

An organic mulch will help conserve moisture, suppress weeds, and keep soil temperatures cool throughout the warmer months

Lettuce will tell you when it needs water

Just look at it

If the leaves are wilting, sprinkle them anytime to cool them off and slow down the transpiration rate

Weed by hand if necessary, but be careful of plant roots: They are shallow

Planning your garden so that lettuce will be in the shade of taller plants, such as tomatoes or sweet corn, in the heat of the summer, may reduce bolting