Growing Lettuce

Latest Update 22nd January 2020.

Lettuce

• Red Iceberg Lettuce are fast growing and compact.  They have a crisp texture and taste great.  
• I have found them easy to grow all year round in our climate, although they need protection from the sun to stop them bolting in summer.
• They benefit from the protection of pest exclusion netting in the warmer months especially to keep butterfles away.
• I use a mulch of clean straw to protect lettuce leaves from bottom rot, which is usually caused by direct contact with moist soil.
• Like most organically grown vegetables, lettuce is rich in vitamins, minerals and is a great source of dietary fibre.
• We always eat it fresh from the garden on salads, in sandwiches and in wraps.

Details.

• Binomial Name:                                        Lactuca sativa.
• Family:                                                    Asteraceae.
• Variety:                                                    Red Iceberg.
• Garden bed type:                                      Garden Ecobed.
• Minimum sun per day:                              4 hours.
• Plant spacings:                                       188 mm.
• Weeks to harvest:                                     8 - 12 weeks.
• Good companions:                                   Carrot. onion. beetroot. cabbage. marigold.
• Climate:                                                   Warm temperate. 
• Geography:                                              Southern hemisphere.

Nutrition. 

• This food is low in sodium, and very low in saturated fat and cholesterol. 
• It is a good source of thiamin, vitamin B6, iron, potassium, dietary fibre, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, folate and manganese.
• More from nutrition data.self.com.

Maintain Healthy Plants

• This blogpage explains how I maintain healthy plants.  It describes how soil is prepared prior to planting, how to regulate the sun's intensity and how to help protect and feed plants through their leaves.

Propagate Plants Efficiently

•  This blogpage explains how I propagate seeds in a purpose built propagator.

Propagation Plan 2020.

• This blogpage tells you when to sow seeds.

Services Plan 2020.

• This blogpage tells you when to make compost and plan other garden/household related activities.

Growing Instructions.

• Direct sow a few lettuce seeds in a shallow drill in an EcoPropagator.  Cover them lightly with sieved (about 2mm) and water them in well with captured rainwater.
• Once the seedling have germinated and reached a suitable size, transplant 6 of them into prepared soil in an Ecobed.
• Keep the straw mulch well away from the seedlings until they mature, then cover the soil with it so the lettuce leaves cant come into contact with the soil.  Water the seedlings in with captured rainwater.

Harvesting and Storage.

• Lettuce can be grown and harvested all year round. 
• When harvesting, pick outer leaves on a regular basis as required to extend the life of each plant and maximise harvest.  When the plant eventually stops growing or tries to set seed, cut the Lettuce down to ground level and allow the roots to decompose in the soil.
• Lettuce does not store well and should be eaten fresh from the garden.

Organic Pest Control.

• Lettuces, like most vegetables, are vulnerable to attack from certain pests in my garden.  My blog on "Controlling Garden Pests" explains a little about these pests and what to do to protect plants from them.  For details click on the appropriate link below.
• Slugs and snails.  
• Cabbage white butterfly caterpillars.  
• Greenhouse whitefly. 
• Lettuce bottom rot.