Lettuce Seeds - Parris Island Romaine

Minimum Seeds per Packet: 300

Packet Weight: 0.5g

Planting Season: Spring or Fall

Sowing Method: Direct Seed or Transplant

Seed Depth: 1/8"

Direct Seed Spacing: 1-2"

Soil Temperature: 40-80 ℉

Days to Sprout: 3-15

Mature Spacing: 6-10"

Sun Requirement: Full Sun or Partial Shade

Frost Tolerance: Lightly Tolerant

Days to Harvest: 66

When to Seed Lettuce

Lettuce is a cool season crop that is best grown in spring or fall. They vary from color and texture, to heat tolerance, and how it’s best harvested. We recommend sowing a wide variety of lettuces for an interesting salad (almost) all year! Lettuce is only lightly frost tolerant. While it can absolutely be direct seeded, giving it a little head start by sowing it indoors four to six weeks before your last or first frost is a great idea to ensure you get the most out of your crop that you can. 

Where to Plant Lettuce

Lettuce will appreciate a spot that gets full sun and has nutrient-rich, well-draining soil. Mix in some compost or blood meal ahead of planting to boost the nitrogen content in the soil. While lettuce does prefer full sun, a little afternoon shade won’t hurt as the temperatures heat up. 

Growing Lettuce

Sow seeds ⅛ inch deep and one to two inches apart. For growing mature heads, pay close attention to the mature spacing distance for thinning or transplanting. If you’re growing for cut and come again production, however, one to two inches is totally fine. 

Harvesting Lettuce

Lettuce can be eaten at any growing stage. For cut and come again harvesting, harvest with sharp shears, leaving an inch or two at the base of the plant intact. If you leave the growing point intact, your lettuce will resprout. For mature heads, you can cut the whole plant at the base with a sharp knife. For spring harvests, be sure to pick what you can before the heat makes your lettuce bitter and/or causes them to bolt.

Lettuce, Lactuca sativa
Pollination, self; Life Cycle, annual; Isolation Distance, 20 feet

Lettuce is a great choice for those new to seed saving, because it has a perfect flower and only needs 20 feet between varieties to stay true. Save seeds from several plants of the same variety to ensure diversity. Allow plant to bolt and flower, you will know the seeds are ready to harvest when yellow flowers dry to a white fluff. Let the seed heads dry on the plant if possible, but if it's too wet you can pull the plant up roots and all and allow to dry upside down in a cool, dry place. Use a small diameter screen to separate seed from chaff, or separate seeds by hand.