How to Grow Green Lettuce
Green Lettuce At a Glance
Difficulty
Easy
Category
Vegetable
Sun Exposure
Partial Sun, Partial Shade
Frost Tolerance
Frost Hardy
Cold Hardiness
Survives to -7°C
Plant Family
Asteraceae
Growing Season
Cool Season
Plant Lifecycle
Annual
How to Start It
★ Recommended for beginners
Lettuce loves cool weather and handles light frost, so start sowing about 2 weeks before your last spring frost. Scatter the seeds thinly and barely cover them, 0.5 cm deep at most, since they sprout better with a little light: they come up in 2 to 7 days. Thin them (pull the extras, and eat them) so each plant has about 15 cm. Sow a short row every 2 weeks until early summer, and again in late summer, for a steady supply.
Leaf lettuce is one of the fastest crops you can grow, ready to pick in about 40 days. In summer heat it bolts (rushes to flower and turns bitter), and the seeds may not sprout in hot soil, so sow in spring and late summer and give summer plantings some afternoon shade.
When To Start
First chance to plant
30 Days Before Last Frost
Last chance to plant
30 Days Before First Frost
When should you plant Green Lettuce?
Your planting dates depend on your local climate. Sign up and add your location to unlock personalized dates.
Your Green Lettuce Planting Window
Start planting
May 15, 2026
Last chance
Sep 10, 2026
Your Green Lettuce Calendar
Set your location to turn these into exact dates and reminders.
Sow lettuce outdoors now, then a short row every 2 weeks
2 weeks before your last frost· every year
Pick the outer lettuce leaves, the centre keeps growing
4 weeks after your last frost· every year· optional
Did you water your green lettuce seedlings today? Keep the top of the soil damp until they are up and growing.
About 1 days after you plant it
Time to thin the green lettuce seedlings: snip the extras at soil level so each one has room to grow.
About 17 days after you plant it
Your lettuce is off to a good start! Thin the seedlings so each one has room to fill out.
About 20 days after you plant it
Salad time is close! Pick the outer leaves first and let the centre keep growing.
About 34 days after you plant it
Picking time may be here: check your green lettuce.
About 40 days after you plant it
The Journey Ahead
Green Lettuce's Lifecycle
Seedling
Mature Plant
Seed Production
Step 2
Planting & Sprouting
Expect sprouts in 2–7 days
Growing Tips
- 1Grow lettuce in full sun in spring and fall, and in a spot with afternoon shade in summer.
- 2Mix compost into the soil before sowing, since lettuce has shallow roots and grows best in soft, rich soil.
- 3Water lightly and often so the soil never dries out, because dry spells make the leaves bitter.
- 4Feed with compost tea or a sprinkle of worm castings every 2 to 3 weeks for big, tender leaves.
- 5Pick slugs off at dusk, and lay a board on the soil overnight so you can scrape off the slugs hiding under it in the morning.
- 6Wash aphids off with a spray of water, and cover young plants with row cover if they keep coming back.
Seedling Phase
Step 3
Growth & Maturity
~40
Days to Maturity
30 cm
Mature Height
30 cm
Mature Width
Pests to Watch For
Diseases to Watch For
Mature Plant
Step 4
Harvesting
Harvest Window
60 days
When to Pick
Harvest outer leaves often
How to Harvest
- 1Start picking leaf lettuce when the outer leaves are about the length of your hand.
- 2Pick in the morning, when the leaves are crisp and full of water.
- 3Snap or snip off the outer leaves near the base and leave the centre to keep growing, so one plant feeds you for weeks.
- 4For head types like Buttercrunch and Iceberg, cut the whole head at soil level once it feels firm.
- 5Pull plants that start to grow tall in the middle, since that is the sign they are about to flower and turn bitter.
- 6Rinse the leaves in cold water, dry them, and keep them in a bag or box in the fridge for up to a week.
Step 5
Saving Seeds
How to Save Seeds
Lettuce flowers pollinate themselves, so the seeds grow true, and keeping different varieties about 3 m apart is plenty. Hybrid F1 seeds will not grow true, so save only from a variety that is not a hybrid. Let a few of your best plants bolt (rush up to flower) and do not eat them: pick the ones that bolted last, so your seeds give slow-to-bolt lettuce. About 2 to 3 weeks after the small yellow flowers open, the heads turn into white fluff: shake them into a paper bag every few days, because they ripen a few at a time. Pick out the bits of fluff, and store the seeds labelled somewhere cool, dark and dry, where they keep about 3 years.
Seed Production
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