Lettuce is usually an easy crop to grow. In the right place at the right time, it’s pretty trouble free. Lettuce prefers cool weather, and is therefore best planted in spring or fall in most parts of the U.S. It can sometimes be coaxed along in summer, but usually does better with less than full sun in that case.
Leaf lettuce varieties (those that don’t form a firm head) can be harvested multiple times using the “cut and come again” method of cutting the leaves with a scissors and leaving an inch or two of lettuce stubble to start regrowth.
If you lack outdoor space, or the climate or season aren’t right, lettuce is very easy to grow indoors. My friend Michael and her husband George live in Texas. She told me they’d love to grow lettuce, but it doesn’t do well in their hot and windy climate. So we sent them a Tabletop Sunstation.
Michael soon reported that her lettuce “babies” were thriving. A few weeks later, she emailed us, “Our salad was divine, with some leftover for sandwiches!” and sent a lovely picture of their dinner, with salad. Not only that, she send her recipe for salad dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
4 TBSP apple cider vinegar
2 TBSP maple syrup
6 TSP Dijon mustard
Thanks, Michael, we tried the dressing on some of our own Sunstation-grown lettuce, and it was excellent!
