Secrets to Growing Succulent Home Grown Lettuce:

Everyone has had at least one delicious salad in their lives that knocks their socks off. Remembering one of my favorites, it was at an upscale steak restaurant, and the salad consisted of simply a crisp quarter of a head of iceberg lettuce and a light vinaigrette dressing. What made it so delectably delicious was the crispness and freshness of that lettuce, undoubtedly organic, and most probably grown locally. Lettuce that is bought at most grocers is often limited to a few varieties with homogenously subpar quality, texture, and taste. Growing your own lettuce in your backyard is not only fairly simple, it also is self rewarding, producing a quality of product that you will be proud to serve to your family and friends again and again.

Perhaps the most difficult part of growing your own lettuce is deciding on which variety to plant. If this is your first venture into growing, perhaps it might be best to grow the easiest variety first: loose-leaf lettuce. Loose leaf varieties are more heat tolerant so you don't have to worry as much about an unpredicted heat wave ruining your crop. It might be fun to research and find a variety of loose leaf that isn't carried by your local grocer, so take your time picking your seeds at the local garden shop. For the most part, lettuce is a cool season crop. For best success, seeds should develop from seed to starts indoors, and then transplanted into your backyard garden as soon as the soil is soft for tilling and working. Lettuce should not be planted (again, for the most part) in warm weather, as it will all too often grow too quickly and taste overly bitter. Early Spring after the last frost (you hope) is the best time to get your plants in the ground. Soil that is extremely nitrogen rich is much appreciated by lettuce and many other plants, so working large amounts of compost or organic fertilizer into your soil can be most helpful in encouraging growth. Allow for sufficient, yet not overwatering your lettuce from your garden hose reel, being attentive to keeping your crop moist, not flooded.

Perhaps the secret to enjoying healthy lettuce is in the harvest; when is the right time to enjoy it at its best? The best thing about leaf lettuce is its ability to be harvested a leaf at a time, a method that can actually encourage its growth. In this way, whenever you're having salad for dinner, simply take the amount of leaf you need, leaving the rest to sprout and grow new leaf growth for your next salad. Be forewarned, you will quickly become spoiled by the freshness of your homegrown lettuce and will demand the same quality from the rest of your produce. You might just be forced to grow all your vegetables at home, so be prepared!