It needs to be lettuce if you grow just one veggie other than tomatoes. Growing lettuce is so simple, takes up little area, and you can even grow it among flowers.
Given that lettuce is a cool weather plant it’s finest to plant them in the spring or fall. You can also do succession planting to be able to have lettuce harvest all season long.
When to Plant
Lettuce is a cool weather plant and does well in most locations when planted in the spring and fall. Lettuce generally grows well at temperatures between 45 and 65 degrees.
Where Plant Lettuce
Since lettuce is a cooler weather condition plant they like some shade. I like to plant my lettuce around my tomatoes plants. The tomato plants provide the lettuce a little shade.
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Provide the lettuce a little space in between plants, if in rows plant 4 inches apart for leaf ranges and 8-12 inches apart for head ranges. If you are using the square foot gardening technique you must have the ability to plant 5 plants per square foot.
Soil conditions for Lettuce.
Lettuce likes to be planted in a loamy soil that is fertile. Be sure to operate in some garden compost or fertilizer prior to planting and after that after transplanting the lettuce include a little fertilizer to the soil in about three weeks.
Watering and Care.
You’ll want to keep the lettuce soil wet however not soaked. If the soil is too dry or the weather condition is too warm, lettuce can wilt. If the soil is wet however the lettuce is wilting in the heat of the day, water the leaves to cool the plant down. Be sure to hand weed if you require to weed around lettuce plants. The lettuce roots are shallow and care needs to be taken when weeding around them.
Collecting.
There are a couple of methods to gather lettuce. When you simply require a few leaves of lettuce, you can get rid of the bigger external leaves. Let the rest of the leaves remain and continue growing. If you wish to collect the entire head, rather of pulling it up cut it at the base leaving a couple of leaves and then water the stock right now. After a week or so you need to see lettuce begin to regrow from the stock that was left. If you need the area for another plant. Cut off the head and then get rid of the stock and roots.
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Pests.
Watch for aphids and earwigs on lettuce. They like to come down into the plant and treat on it. For aphids, I will spray the plant with a stiff spray to dislodge the aphids. We likewise buy girl bugs each year to launch into the backyard to assist control aphids on plants. Earwigs can be selected off the plant. When I gather lettuce I always turn the head upside down and give it a shake to eliminate any earwigs that may be in the lettuce.
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