Lettuce seed tips
Using lettuce seeds to grow your own means you can fill your salad bowl with tasty, fresh leaves all summer. Sow a little every few weeks to have a continuous supply without gluts. Winter varieties, including ‘All The Year Round’ and ‘Winter Density’, will give you an early harvest.
Read our expert lettuce growing tips and browse our choice of salad plants for further inspiration. Or find answers to your frequently asked lettuce seed questions below.
When to sow lettuce seed
You can sow lettuce seed from early spring through to autumn depending on the variety. Sowings made from March to July will crop in summer and autumn. Those sown in early August will crop in early winter. Winter varieties, such as ‘Brighton’, can be sown in September or October and grown in an unheated greenhouse or cold frame to harvest in spring.
How to grow lettuce seed
Lettuce seeds can be sown in a seed tray or direct into the ground once the risk of frost has passed. Sowing under cover means you can start while outside temperatures are still too low.
Sow thinly into a seed tray filled with seed or multi-purpose compost and lightly cover with compost. Prick out seedlings into module trays and grow on before planting out. Choose a growing site that does not get too much sun as lettuce will bolt in high temperatures. Cut-and-come-again lettuce can be sown directly into modules and planted out as a clump.
If you are direct sowing outside, prepare the ground by removing weeds and stones, add good compost and rake. Sow into rows that are 30cm apart and sow thinly.
How to protect lettuce seed from pests
Growing seeds in seed trays and pricking out seedlings into module trays before planting out when the lettuces are bigger increases the chances of surviving attacks by slugs and snails.
