Crops › Lettuce
How to grow Lettuce
in the UK
Sow March to August, harvest May to October. About 50 days from seed to plate.
Lettuce, it's a proper staple, isn't it? Easy to grow, and there's nothing quite like fresh leaves from your own plot for a cracking salad. You can just keep picking it, all summer long, which is grand.
Sowing
I usually sow lettuce little and often, from March right through to August, to make sure I've always got some coming along. You can sow direct in a shallow drill, about 1 cm deep, or start 'em off in modules in the greenhouse or on a windowsill. Pop two or three seeds per module and thin to the strongest. They'll be ready to pick in about 50 days, give or take, which is quick, you know what I mean.
Growing on
Once your seedlings are big enough to handle, or if you've bought plug plants, get 'em hardened off for a week or two before planting out. Give 'em about 20-30 cm between plants, depending on the variety, so they've got room to grow into proper heads. Some smaller types, like 'Tom Thumb', do grand in pots on the patio too, if space is a bit tight.
Looking after it
Lettuce loves a bit of water, especially when it's warm in summer, to keep those leaves crisp and stop it bolting too early. Give it a good drink at the base, not over the leaves, and it'll be chuffed. No need for fancy feeds, the soil on the plot usually has enough for them.
What goes wrong
Slugs are the main culprits with lettuce, aren't they? They love those tender young leaves, so keep an eye out and get 'em off. Aphids can be a bother too, sometimes, especially under the leaves, and watch for that lettuce root aphid if your plants suddenly wilt.
Harvest
You can start picking lettuce leaves as soon as they're big enough, for cut-and-come-again, or let them form a full head. They'll be ready from May right through to October, depending on when you sowed. Best eaten fresh from the plot, but if you've got a bit of a glut, they'll keep in a plastic bag in the fridge for three to five days.
I always try to sow a tiny pinch of seed every couple of weeks, rather than a whole packet at once, otherwise you're swamped with lettuce and then you've got none.
Dates for your plot
Type the first half of your postcode and the plant-out advice shifts to your area's typical frost dates.
Varieties, and whether the club would grow them again
| Variety | Club verdict |
|---|---|
| Tom Thumb This is a cracking little miniature butterhead, proper small. Ideal if you've only got a small space or a few pots on the patio. | No club votes yet |
| Buttercrunch A classic butterhead, lovely and sweet. You can't go wrong with this for your main salad crop. | No club votes yet |
| Avondefiance If mildew's been a problem for you, this butterhead's got good resistance. A reliable choice for the plot. | No club votes yet |
| Marvel of Four Seasons A beautiful heritage butterhead with a lovely red blush. It's tough too, surprisingly cold hardy. | No club votes yet |
| Webbs Wonderful This one gives you big, crisp butterhead heads. Proper satisfying to grow and harvest. | No club votes yet |
| All The Year Round Like the name says, this is a really dependable butterhead. Good for most seasons on the plot. | No club votes yet |
| Little Gem Everyone loves a Little Gem, don't they? A cracking mini cos, sweet and crunchy, a real UK favourite. | No club votes yet |
| Lobjoits Green Cos This is a traditional, tall cos lettuce, a bit of a heritage variety. Gives you proper big leaves for Caesar salads. | No club votes yet |
| Winter Density If you fancy some winter salads, this hardy cos is the one. You can sow it in autumn for a late crop. | No club votes yet |
| Parris Island Cos This cos variety copes well with the summer heat, so it's slower to bolt. Good for continuous picking when it's warm. | No club votes yet |
| Rouge d'Hiver A striking red cos lettuce, and it's very cold hardy too. Great for extending your salad season. | No club votes yet |
| Freckles This is a lovely speckled romaine, with burgundy spots on green leaves. A bit different and looks grand in a salad bowl. | No club votes yet |
| Great Lakes A classic iceberg lettuce, this one produces tight, crisp heads. Perfect for those who like a proper crunch. | No club votes yet |
| Lakeland Another good crisp iceberg type, very reliable on the plot. Gives you nice solid heads for your salads. | No club votes yet |
| Saladin This summer crisp iceberg is a good choice for hotter weather. It's heat-tolerant and slower to bolt. | No club votes yet |
| Reine des Glaces A really pretty frilly crisp French lettuce, a bit of a heritage gem. Adds a lovely texture to your salad mix. | No club votes yet |
| Lollo Rossa This is a gorgeous red frilly loose-leaf, perfect for cut-and-come-again. Just snip the outer leaves as you need them. | No club votes yet |
| Lollo Bionda The green version of Lollo Rossa, with lovely frilly leaves. Another cracking cut-and-come-again variety. | No club votes yet |
| Red Salad Bowl A beautiful red oak-leaf type with deeply lobed leaves. Great for adding colour and texture to your mixed salads. | No club votes yet |
| Green Salad Bowl This is a lovely green oak-leaf, another grand cut-and-come-again. Keeps producing fresh leaves for ages. | No club votes yet |
| Catalogna An interesting Italian cutting lettuce, with slightly spiky leaves. Adds a bit of a different bite to your salads. | No club votes yet |
| Mottistone A fast-growing green loose-leaf, great if you want quick results. Ideal for getting an early salad crop. | No club votes yet |
| Revolution This red loose-leaf is known for being heat resistant, so it's a good one for summer growing. Slower to bolt when it's warm. | No club votes yet |
| Cocarde A striking frilly loose-leaf with both green and red colours. Looks fantastic in a mixed salad bowl. | No club votes yet |
| Red Oak Leaf Classic oak-shaped leaves in a deep red colour. This heritage variety adds real visual appeal to your plate. | No club votes yet |
| Green Oak Leaf Bright green lobed leaves that are soft and tasty. A versatile choice for any salad, and easy to grow. | No club votes yet |
| Navara A beautiful burgundy red oak-leaf, a really rich colour. Grows well and looks cracking in the garden. | No club votes yet |
| Cherokee This dark red oak-leaf lettuce is a real eye-catcher. It's a heritage variety that's both productive and pretty. | No club votes yet |
| Sierra A lovely Batavian crispy loose-leaf, quite vigorous. Gives a good crunch to your salads, a bit like a butterhead but crispier. | No club votes yet |
| Canasta This crispy loose-leaf is heat-tolerant and slow to bolt. A grand choice for keeping you in salads all summer long. | No club votes yet |
| Bronze Arrow A heritage loose-leaf with attractive bronze-coloured leaves. Adds a lovely rustic touch to your salad mixes. | No club votes yet |
| Flashy Trout's Back A proper heritage variety, speckled green and red. It's a loose-leaf that's as pretty as it is tasty. | No club votes yet |
Votes are members rating varieties in their Seed Tin, one vote per gardener. Tap a variety for the full page and where to buy.
Buy Lettuce seeds
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Cook the harvest
Iceberg or Cos lettuce is shredded into wide ribbons and tossed into a wok at the very last moment, just long enough for the heat and the glossy oyster-ginger sauce to make the leaves collapse to something silky and intensely savoury without going limp and watery. This is a classic Cantonese technique — stir-fried lettuce appears on every good dim sum menu in Hong Kong for good reason. The crispy pan-fried tofu brings substance and a satisfying contrast of textures. This is genuinely on the table in under thirty minutes.
27 min · easyTender outer leaves of butterhead or iceberg lettuce are wrapped around a fragrant filling of spiced lamb mince, long-grain rice, toasted pine nuts and currants, then gently simmered in a lemony tomato broth until the rice is cooked through and the leaves have turned silky and yielding. It is a dish rooted in the Turkish tradition of sarma but using fresh garden lettuce in place of vine leaves — something that works beautifully when you have a glut of large-headed lettuce coming at once. Serve with thick yoghurt and warm flatbread.
70 min · mediumThis is a proper cold soup — vivid green, smooth as silk, and genuinely refreshing on a hot summer day. A full head of round lettuce gives the soup its silky body and a gentle bitterness that stops it tasting like blended peas alone. It takes barely any time to make but needs a couple of hours in the fridge, so it is an ideal make-ahead dish for when you know lunch is going to be busy.
25 min · easyCrisp, cool Little Gem leaves are piled high with salty griddled halloumi, jewel-bright pomegranate seeds, and a sharp sumac dressing that ties everything together. This is a salad that earns its place as a main — substantial, bold, and genuinely satisfying. Ready in under 25 minutes, it is exactly what you want to make when the garden is giving you lettuce faster than you can eat it.
23 min · easyWatch for, and grow alongside
Companions: carrots, radishes, strawberries
Questions people ask
When do you sow Lettuce in the UK?
Sow Lettuce from March to August.
How long does Lettuce take from sowing to harvest?
Roughly 50 days, with the harvest May to October.
Which Lettuce varieties do gardeners grow again?
Club members rate every variety they grow. This page shows the grow-again votes for Tom Thumb, Buttercrunch, Avondefiance, Marvel of Four Seasons and more.
Track your Lettuce from packet to plate
Sowing reminders and harvest forecasts for your own frost dates, the Seed Tin, Scan Centre for any label or packet, and the Potty Mouth Garden Club. Free to start.
Allotment keeper in the North East of England, the voice behind the Tony C Smith YouTube channel, and the gardener who built GrowMore CookMore. Club numbers on this page update as members log their plots. Last updated 3 September 2026.