5 Tips for Growing Lettuce in Raised Beds

Lettuce is likely one of the most versatile crops on the market. You utilize child leaves in salads, get pleasure from massive leaves on sandwiches, and use tender leaves for lettuce wraps. And never solely does lettuce have a number of makes use of within the kitchen, but it surely’s additionally straightforward to suit into your backyard.

In case you plan on rising lettuce in a raised mattress, you’re in luck! Raised beds present an amazing house for lettuce on account of their glorious drainage and straightforward accessibility. Nevertheless, earlier than you plant these leafy greens in raised beds, it’s best to preserve these 5 ideas in thoughts.

Pay Consideration to the Selection

When it’s time to develop lettuce, you’ve got virtually limitless choices. There’s the dense, crisp romaine that’s a begin of Caesar salads, tender butterhead varieties which are good for lettuce wraps, and crunchy crisphead that holds up properly on sandwiches. Yow will discover handfuls of particular person varieties inside these broad classes, making selecting a single selection tough.

After I resolve which sort of lettuce I need to develop, I take a look at the totally different cultivars out there. Every selection has particular illness resistance, warmth tolerance, chilly tolerance, and days to maturity. Discovering a range that holds the traits you’re on the lookout for is an important a part of rising a wholesome crop.

I prefer to plant a number of totally different lettuce varieties all year long since every one has distinctive attributes. For instance, I plant varieties like ‘Buttercrunch’ and ‘Vivian’ in spring since cooler days result in supple leaves and forestall bolting. When hotter climate arrives, I change to heat-tolerant choices like ‘New Purple Hearth.’ Whereas no lettuce loves the warmth, some varieties can stand up to summer season warmth with out bolting and changing into bitter. Fall lettuces are sometimes much like these planted in spring, however I search for cold-tolerant varieties if I plant to develop the lettuce into the winter.

In case you discover a particular selection you want, make certain to write down it down! And simply because a range didn’t develop properly in July or September, it doesn’t imply it gained’t develop properly at different occasions of yr. Experimenting with a number of varieties every season will assist you to discover cultivars which are well-suited to your particular local weather and raised mattress backyard.

Plant on the Correct Spacing

When you’ve decided which lettuce selection you’ll plant in your raised mattress, it’s time to determine how a lot room it must develop. Like with most greens, you possibly can harvest lettuce at any time. Nevertheless, if you wish to develop a big head of romaine or a buttercrunch that may feed a whole household, it’s a must to make certain your lettuce has sufficient room to develop.

First, take a look at your seed packet. Most packets ought to give a spread of numbers for enough plant spacing. Many varieties of lettuce develop properly 9-12 inches aside, however some can deal with narrowing spacing, and others develop greatest at wider spacing.

In case you’re rising lettuce with different crops, let the spacing function a information quite than a tough rule. For instance, you possibly can tuck lettuce vegetation a bit of nearer to trellised snap peas because the peas gained’t intrude with the lettuce’s development.

Lastly, bear in mind that you could develop lettuce at any measurement. If you wish to develop child greens for a salad combine, you possibly can plant a number of seeds per inch. As an alternative of planting the seeds in a dense block, plant them in rows with a number of inches of area between every row. The rows save area and make harvesting straightforward, whereas the area between them permits for airflow and helps forestall illness.

Assume About Temperature

Rising lettuce within the floor and in a raised mattress is fairly comparable. Nevertheless, one of many largest variations between these two rising environments is their soil temperature.

Since raised beds are uncovered to the air, the soil warms and cools quicker than the soil within the floor. Which means raised beds heat up faster in summer season and funky down extra quickly in winter. It additionally implies that the beds expertise bigger fluctuations in temperature between the day and night time.

So, what does this imply for rising lettuce? Nicely, when you’re rising in a raised mattress, anticipate lettuce to bolt extra shortly in summer season and freeze quicker in winter. You’ll be able to at all times impression the temperature through the use of row covers and shade material, however being conscious of those variations may help you choose the suitable varieties and plant them on the proper time.

If you would like your raised mattress to expertise much less fluctuations in temperature, you possibly can place it in opposition to the south-facing aspect of a construction. This placement means the vegetation will nonetheless obtain loads of solar, however the construction will present a little bit of a buffer in opposition to modifications in temperature.

Hold the Soil Moist, Not Moist

One of many advantages of raised beds is the superb drainage they supply. Even when you dwell in an space with heavy, compacted clay, you possibly can nonetheless develop wholesome crops with the assistance of raised beds. Nevertheless, this glorious drainage has an impression in your watering schedule.

While you couple the superb drainage of raised beds with their tendency to warmth up quicker on heat and sunny days, you’ll discover that the soil dries out extra shortly than soil within the floor. Subsequently, it’s best to plan on watering your raised beds extra usually than you’ll an in-ground backyard.

Most lettuce vegetation like their soil moist however not moist. Happily, a well-draining soil will forestall water from puddling and resulting in illnesses like backside rot and drop. Your purpose is to commonly examine the soil moisture and irrigate so the soil by no means dries out utterly. Since small seedlings have smaller root programs than bigger vegetation, plan on watering smaller vegetation extra incessantly than bigger vegetation. And don’t neglect that components like temperature, wind, and daylight additionally impression how usually it’s best to water.

In case you don’t journey a lot and love tending to your backyard, hand watering with a watering can or hose is simply high quality. However if you wish to automate issues, you possibly can arrange a drip irrigation system and join it to a timer. Simply make certain to examine the system each week or so for malfunctions, and regulate the run frequency based mostly on soil moisture ranges. Keep in mind, the soil must be moist however not soaking moist!

Plant Greater than As soon as

One of many largest errors I see house gardeners make is planting a crop as soon as! Certain, you solely have to plant a single tomato or cucumber plant to get pleasure from weeks of recent produce, however that’s not the case with lettuce! In case you plant 5 romaine seedlings on the identical time in spring, you’ll have 5 mature heads which are prepared to reap on the identical time. However when you by no means plant any extra seedlings, that’s the one homegrown lettuce you’ll need to get pleasure from.

For a steady provide of lettuce, plant new seeds or seedlings each two to a few weeks. The follow of planting a number of rounds of a crop is named succession planting, and it’s how farmers provide a steady provide of lettuce or arugula all through the rising season.

In case you plan on direct sowing lettuce seeds in your backyard, take observe that these seeds gained’t germinate at excessive temperatures. If the air is above 85°F (29°C), think about beginning your seeds inside after which transplanting them into your backyard.