Growing Lettuce in Your Home Garden
by John Yazo
Lettuce is an easy crop to grow in your home garden and doesn't take much room. It can also be planted in containers and even window boxes. The temperatures that it likes best is between forty and sixty degrees Fahrenheit and can tolerate a light freeze, hard freezing conditions can harm your lettuce plants.
The best way to grow your crop is by a natural method like organic gardening. It likes a well drained soil with plenty of organic matter and a ph level around 6.5.
There are several types of lettuce like butterhead, crisphead, leaf and romaine lettuce. The most common type of lettuce that is purchased in the local super market is the crisphead like iceberg. Butterhead is a small variety with soft tender leaves that don't grow tightly packed. It has a some what buttery flavor. Leaf varieties are the most common in the home garden. There leaves are ruffled or curly and come in a variety of color from red to deep green. Romaine is a tall variety that has ridged leaves that are tightly packed together with a dark green outer leaf and the inner leaves being lighter in color. It is considered the most favored variety among most people.
Lettuce transplants can be purchased at most local garden centers. If you plan on growing your own plants from seed you will need about four to six weeks to start them before you plant them outdoors. It is also easy to grow from seed directly in the garden once the soil temperatures have reached thirty-five to forty degrees Fahrenheit.
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