Lovely Lettuce Varieties

Burgundy-colored lettuce varieties add beauty to any garden.

By Charlie Nardozzi

I love growing vegetables that look beautiful and taste great. One of my favorites is lettuce. Lettuce isn't just a bunch of boring green leaves anymore. There are red, burgundy, light green, and speckled varieties. Depending on the type, the leaves can be smooth and round, tall and jagged, or even shaped like oak leaves. There are varieties that tolerate the heat of summer and cool temperatures of spring and fall. So if you like salads, grow lettuce. And don't just stick lettuce in the vegetable garden. Mix and match colorful varieties among your herbs and annual flowers, and in containers. Here's how to grow lettuce.

Select varieties that are adapted to the time of year in which you're growing it. Most lettuces prefer to mature during cool weather. If you get a late start in spring, grow heat-tolerant varieties such as 'Summertime' or leaf lettuces such as 'Black Seeded Simpson' that can be harvested as young greens before the heat wilts them. If you want a lettuce with more texture, look for romaine or crisphead varieties such as 'Parris Island Cos' and 'Ithaca'. Tender-leaf varieties such as 'Bibb' are more perishable, but have a milder flavor.

Plant lettuce seeds indoors four weeks before you're wanting to transplant seedlings in the garden, or direct sow seeds into raised beds amended with compost. Plant every few weeks in spring, summer, and early fall to have a continuous harvest. Plant short rows of lettuce so you don't get overwhelmed with a large crop maturing all at once. In hot summer areas, skip the summer planting and start planting again in fall when it's cooler. Keep beds well weeded and watered. After the true leaves form, fertilize with fish emulsion to give plants a boost of nitrogen. Thin young seedlings to about 6 to 10 inches apart if you're growing them to form a head. If you're picking them as baby greens, harvest as soon as the leaves are big enough to eat. Cut loose-leaf varieties with a scissors so they can sprout again for a second crop.