View Lettuce
According to Herodotus, lettuce was served on the tables of the Persian kings of the 6th century B.C. In the 5th and 4th centuries B.C., other great Greek writers described and praised its virtues.
There are many kinds of lettuce. Loose leaved varieties are useful as leaves can be harvested a few at a time. they usually have a poor shelf life and so are not available on the supermarket shelves. Cos lettuces are drought tolerant and have large thick and flavoursome leaves. Some of the cos type varieties such as Asparagus Lettuce and Cracoviensis produce an edible stem as they go to flower. Some lettuces such as Blush Butter Oak, overwinter outside in sheltered spots and the coloured varietes seem to be less attractive to slugs.
Lettuce can be sown outdoors from early April onwards, once the soil has begun to warm up.
For the home gardener, small amounts of seed should be sown regularly fro April to August. the season can be extended by sowing under cover both earlier and later. It can be sown directly in the ground or in modules or a seed tray. They should be thinned or planted out 20-30cm apart depending on the variety and how big you want them to get.
Lettuce plants are great to stick between larger plants that grow slowly. They will be harvested and gone before the bigger plants take up the space.