Out of all the vegetables you might grow in your garden, lettuce is probably the most versatile. Lettuce is the basis for most salads, and an essential ingredient for sandwiches.
Luckily, most kinds of lettuce are easy to grow indoors or out with the right preparation, even if you are growing them from seed.
Speaking of seeds, how many lettuce seeds per hole should you plant for best results?
Planting 2 or 3 lettuce seeds per hole will give you a little backup in case one or more does not germinate.
This is an especially good idea with lettuce because closer plantings can help them crowd out weeds, and any gap in a row might let weeds take hold.
Lettuce is easy enough to grow from seed but you’ve got to get the details right, particularly when it comes to depth, watering, and space.
I’ll tell you everything you need to know about planting lettuce seeds below, and using this information as a guide. Pretty soon you’ll have a bumper crop of lettuce to harvest!
How Deep Should You Plant Lettuce Seeds?
Lettuce seeds should only be planted about an eighth of an inch deep, no more than a quarter-inch (that’s between 3 and 6 millimeters).
This is because they need light to germinate, and really burying them in the soil means they won’t start at all.
How Wide Should the Hole for Lettuce Seeds Be?
You don’t really need a hole at all for planting lettuce seeds: Poking the seed just an eighth of an inch below the surface and gently covering it with soil is more than adequate to get it started.
What Special Preps Should You Make When Planting Lettuce Seeds?
Lettuce needs a lot of sun, and that meant you need to plant it in a sunny spot with rich, nutritious soil that is well drained or else planted in containers where you can provide the same whether you’re growing it indoors or out.
Also, lettuce should be planted fairly close together according to the size of the mature plants. Normally, you don’t want vegetables to crowd each other in case they start competing for sun.
But, lettuce will do well planted closely together because it will help to choke out weeds and prevent them from getting started.
Keep the soil moist, but not sopping wet. Dry soil will result in the leaves getting scorched, and when the plants are immature, this might kill them off.
If the soil feels dry to the touch, water it! Regular, light watering is usually better than periodic, soaking ones.
Lastly, try to plant lettuce in a new location each year to reduce the chances of your crop contracting soil-borne diseases.
How Long Until You Can Harvest Lettuce When Planting from Seed?
Depending on the variety, lettuce will be ready for harvest within 5 to 8 weeks, or 9 weeks on the outside if conditions have been challenging.
If you start lettuce in early spring, it’s usually ready to harvest by late spring or early summer at the latest.
Lettuce is also commonly planted continually so you can enjoy a harvest throughout the warmer months.
Can You Plant Lettuce Seed Indoors?
Yes, you can. Lettuce can typically be grown very easily indoors in containers so long as they are large enough.
Special Care if Planting Lettuce Seeds Indoors
If growing lettuce indoors in pots or other containers, you’ll want to plant it according to the guidelines described above using any general-purpose potting mix, but you can ensure better results and quicker growth by using one that is formulated for lettuce or cabbage.
Remember to account for the mature size of the lettuce. This should be easy to determine based on the variety you are planting, and this might mean you need a container that is as large as a foot across to accommodate it.
Also, keep in mind that you must be able to drain excess moisture from the container, as water-logged soil will quickly sicken and kill lettuce.
Clay or other materials that will allow moisture to escape through the container itself are beneficial, but not necessary.
Also, if you are planning on repotting lettuce into larger containers (because your initial ones were too small) try to do it as early during the growth as you can because mature lettuce does not take well to having its roots disturbed.
And if you are moving your containers outside or transplanting your lettuce to the garden, don’t forget to harden it off.
Stick the lettuce outside in a shady part of the yard for a couple of hours before bringing it back inside, and repeat this process every day for a week or two, extending the amount of time that is kept outside by about 30 minutes each time.
If you failed to harden off the lettuce before moving it outside transplant shock will result in the loss of some plants.
Tom has lived and worked on farms and homesteads from the Carolinas to Kentucky and beyond. He is passionate about helping people prepare for tough times by embracing lifestyles of self-sufficiency.