Lettuce

Vegetable gardening at home offers the potential to grow high quality organic produce just outside your back door.  This is the first post in a series that is aimed to give you some more information of how and when to grow specific vegetables in your garden (and there might be the occasional side-step into fruit and herbs as well).

Lettuce
Botanical Name: Lactuca sativa
Family: Asteraceae

• Lettuce can be sown all year round in the temperate regions of Australia, however during the hottest moths it is best to provide some shade to prevent them bolting and going to seed as this gives them a bitter taste. 
• Sow them directly into rows in the garden or into seed trays and plant them out later. 
• They will be ready for harvest in 8-12 weeks. 
• They have a fairly high nutrient requirement, so some added compost or regular liquid feeding with something like seaweed is beneficial, and as they have a shallow root system regular watering is important, especially during hot weather to ensure they don't dry out.

There are several different varieties of lettuce you can choose from:

• Mseclun salad mix - contains a variety of greens, or you can make your own by mixing a selection of seeds suited to your local climate.
• Iceberg, Imperial and Great Lakes are traditional hearting or crisphead varieties.  These can be a bit slower to grow and can bolt to seed easily.
• Cos or Romaine types are you clasic ceaser salad variety.  These can be picked whole, or a leaf at a time.
• Non-hearting varieties such as Lollo Rosso or Royal Oak Leaf form loose bunches of frilled or crinkled leaves that you can pick as you need them.

Make sure you protect your young seedlings as they are especially attractive to snails and slugs.  Regular foliar feeding with a liquid fertilizer will help build disease resistance, and avoid mildew problem by not wetting the foliage during watering.

Lettuce is an easy to grow addition to the home vegetable garden, and a must have in the summer salads.  Plant some today and enjoy.