When to plant lettuce UK
There are many types of lettuce that can be grown here in the UK. Here we will find out when to plant lettuce in UK, how to grow it and how to care for it. We will give you lots of tips and advice for growing the best lettuce.
Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book
Are you starting an allotment or planning on growing your own fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers in a kitchen garden? If so we highly recommend the book Allotment Month By Month. This does exactly what it does on the cover to help you with what you should be doing in the allotment and kitchen garden each month. Below you can see the link for Amazon where you can purchase the book directly. This book is extremely popular with all allotment holders as you will read in the reviews:-
You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.
When to plant lettuce
Find out when the best times to sow, when to plant lettuce UK and harvest
| Sow | March to September |
| Plant | March to September |
| Harvest | May to November |
Types of Lettuce
There are two type of lettuce that can be grown in the allotment. These are loose leaf lettuce and hearting lettuce. Loose leaf lettuce you can often cut and it will grow back. The heart lettuce are ones that grow in a ball like the ones you see in shops.
Loose Leaf Lettuce
Loose leaf lettuce are great to grow for that salad bowl you are making. They can come in all different colors of greens and reds. They can also come in different shapes. They will certainly make any salad bowl look attractive. Red loose leaf lettuce can be slightly bitter to taste though.
Heart Lettuce
You heart lettuce are iceburgs and crispheads. They will often have wavy outer leaves but crispy paler leaves on the inside. These are great to add a crunch to your salad bowls and sandwiches. A great variety to grow is Cos, these have leaves which shape upwards and are more sweeter tasting. These are often cut as a whole lettuce plant. Just watch out for creepy crawlies hiding in between the leaves especially small slugs. Make sure they are washed well
Where to grow lettuce.
Lettuce is one of the vegetable which you can grow in lots of places. You can grow them in the ground, in pots, in cold frames, in greenhouses. As long as you grow lettuce in full sun in soil that holds moisture and fertile. Just make sure if you are growing early crops they will need to be kept warm to grow well.
How to Sow
Lettuce is extremely is to sow. Just be careful if you are getting children to sow the seeds as they are extremely fine so will need sprinkling out finely.
The best way to sow lettuce is to get a seed tray – make sure it has holes in the bottom of it. Spread a layer of multi purpose compost on it. Sprinkle lettuce seeds across the top of it. The cover the seeds with another layer of compost about 1 inch deep. Once you have done that you can water the compost using a watering can with a sprinkler on the end, so it waters them finely.
How to plant lettuce
When the seeds have germinated and the leaves are quite big you can pot them on in seperate plant pots, this way the lettuce will grow bigger and stronger before planting out.
When the chance of frost has passed you can now plant these outdoors. Remember lettuce grows fast so you can plant them with other crops which grow slower like your brassica plants if space is limited in your garden.
When you are planting them out they can be planted at around 25cm distance so they have space to grow and you can easily weed round them with a hoe.
Caring for the crop
To care for your crop they need to be kept weed free so that they are not competing for the nutrients and the water. Use a hoe to weed them once a week. This way you can keep on top of the weeds.
To look after your lettuce make sure you water them regular especially in dry conditions. Don’t let them go to long without water or they might bolt.
How to Harvest
To harvest lettuce you need to cut them off rather than pulling them, this way you have chance of more lettuce growing back on the stem. Loose leaf variety will be good at growing back rather than the heart lettuce. If you start seeds off at intervals you will have a endless crop of heart lettuce.
Pests
There are a few pests which can attack lettuce and to be wary of:-
- Slugs and snails:- Make sure young plants are protected from them as they can eat them all down in one day if not protected. Use your homemade traps to catch them.
- Cut worms and chafer grubs:- They can make the plants die overnight by attaching the roots of the lettuce plants. Make sure you check through the soil with a fork for any critters and get rid of them.
- Lettuce Root Aphids:- If the plant dies overnight around the middle of summer it’s usually when they have been infested by the lettuce root aphids in the soil. Any that do die back pull them up immediately and destroy them. Don’t grow them in the same spot the next year after.
Diseases
There are only a couple of issues that can affect lettuce plants when growing them. These are:-
- Bolting:- This usually occurs when the lettuce is too dry and it seeds to early and flowers. Try to keep the ground moist especially in dry conditions.
- Grey Mould:- This is usually when you see a grey fungal mould growth on the lettuce plant. If you see this dig the lettuce up immediatly and destroy it. This can be when the weather is to hot and humid and too damp. If you are growing them in a greenhouse or a cold frame try and reduce the humidity. The way to reduce this outside is to plant the lettuce spaced apart
Varieties of Lettuce
There are many varieties of lettuce worth trying to grow at home and the allotment. These are some of the reccomended varieties worth trying to grow:-
Little Gem
This is a variety of the Cos Lettuce, which has a small head of green medium leaves it has a crisp heart.
Sangria
This is a butterhead variety which will crop in the summertime. It is a slow to mature lettuce but tends not to bolt.
Clarion
This lettuce has a fairly open head butterhead. This can be grown for a spring and autumn crop.
Tom Thumb
This is a small lettuce with a butterhead and soft leaves. It can be grown early in the year. It is also great to grow in small spaces.
Set AGM
This is a small butterhead variety, it can bolt but it is slow to bolt so you can pick it just before it does bolt.
Lobjoits Green Cos
This variety is a Cos variety which has a open head, which is crispy and has extremely tasty leaves.
Bijou
These lettuce have gorgeous red leaves with a great flavor.
Lollo Rossa Assor
This lettuce has green with red tipped leaves so it is attractive to look at. It also has a slight peppery taste when eating.
We hope this page has helped you when finding out when to plant lettuce UK. How to care for lettuce and different varieties to try growing at home and the allotment. Now you know When to plant lettuce UK.
