Growing Lettuce: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · July 16, 2026
If you want a first-garden success story in under six weeks, lettuce is it. It germinates reliably, tolerates a light frost, and, unlike a lot of vegetables. You can harvest outer leaves gradually instead of waiting for one big harvest day.
A cool-season crop through and through
Lettuce is a cool-season crop through and through. It grows best in the mild weeks of spring and fall, and it bolts (sends up a bitter flower stalk) once daytime temperatures push into the 80s. Succession planting (sowing a new small batch every couple weeks) keeps a steady supply going instead of one big flush that bolts all at once.
Bitterness means it bolted, not a soil problem
Bitterness almost always means the plant bolted from heat stress, not a soil problem. If your season’s warming up fast, plant in a spot that gets afternoon shade to buy a few extra weeks.
The densest filler in the grid
Lettuce is a great “filler” crop, its shallow roots don’t compete with deeper-rooted neighbors like carrots or tomatoes, which is why it shows up so often as a companion. See the full companion guide for lettuce, and note it’s one of the highest-density plants in the Garden Designer’s square-foot grid: four plants per square foot.
Companion planting guide for Lettuce · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 2-10. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 0.5-1 ft
Method: Either: Start indoors for an earlier harvest, or direct-sow outside for less fuss. Either works.
When to plant lettuce, by zone
Every zone lettuce grows in. Pick your zone in the header and it will be highlighted here. Each zone links to its full page.
| Zone | Start indoors | Sow or plant out | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2a & 2bSpring window | Apr 22–Apr 29 | May 6–May 13 | Jun 20–Jun 27 |
| Fall window | Not usually | Jul 4–Jul 18 | Aug 18–Sep 1 |
| 3a & 3bSpring window | May 2–May 9 | May 16–May 23 | Jun 30–Jul 7 |
| Fall window | Not usually | Jul 8–Jul 22 | Aug 22–Sep 5 |
| 4a & 4bSpring window | Apr 17–Apr 24 | May 1–May 8 | Jun 15–Jun 22 |
| Fall window | Not usually | Jul 23–Aug 6 | Sep 6–Sep 20 |
| 5a & 5bSpring window | Apr 12–Apr 19 | Apr 26–May 3 | Jun 10–Jun 17 |
| Fall window | Not usually | Aug 7–Aug 21 | Sep 21–Oct 5 |
| 6a & 6bSpring window | Mar 28–Apr 4 | Apr 11–Apr 18 | May 26–Jun 2 |
| Fall window | Not usually | Aug 17–Aug 31 | Oct 1–Oct 15 |
| 7a & 7bSpring window | Mar 13–Mar 20 | Mar 27–Apr 3 | May 11–May 18 |
| Fall window | Not usually | Aug 27–Sep 10 | Oct 11–Oct 25 |
| 8a & 8bSpring window | Feb 25–Mar 4 | Mar 11–Mar 18 | Apr 25–May 2 |
| Fall window | Not usually | Sep 12–Sep 26 | Oct 27–Nov 10 |
| 9a & 9bSpring window | Jan 18–Jan 25 | Feb 1–Feb 8 | Mar 18–Mar 25 |
| Fall window | Not usually | Oct 7–Oct 21 | Nov 21–Dec 5 |
| 10a & 10bFall window | Aug–Dec | Sep–Jan | ~45 days after transplanting |
Harvest dates are about 45 days after the sow or plant-out date, not after starting seeds indoors.
Zone 2 sows before zone 3 here, which looks wrong and is not. USDA zones rank winter cold, not season length, and zone 2 is mostly interior Alaska, where hard winters come with warm summers. More on what a zone measures.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Lettuce plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 4 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 0.5-1 ft.
Soil & water: pH 6-6.5. Needs well-drained soil. Amend with lime if soil pH falls below 6.
Good companions for lettuce
- Carrot: Shallow lettuce roots don't compete with deep carrot roots.
- Radish: Radish matures fast and breaks up soil for lettuce.
Full companion guide, including what to keep away from lettuce →
Varieties worth considering
- Slobolt: Seed Savers Exchange describes it as very slow to bolt, producing leaves all summer long, a good pick for hot climates or late-spring plantings. (source)
- Summertime (crisphead): Seed Savers Exchange notes it tolerates heat and resists bolting, another hot-climate option. (source) Buy seeds: True Leaf Market
- Winter Density (Bibb-Romaine): Seed Savers Exchange describes this as slow to bolt in summer heat while also cold tolerant, a rare combination that spans both ends of lettuce's growing season instead of covering just the hot-weather half like Slobolt and Summertime. (source) Buy seeds: True Leaf Market · High Mowing Organic Seeds
- Buttercrunch (best for: classic butterhead): Johnny's grows this Cornell-bred 1963 AAS winner into a small, tightly bunched 6-inch rosette with crisp, sweet leaves and compact hearts that blanch yellow inside. Ready in about 46 days, the classic butterhead most people picture when they think of Bibb lettuce. (source) Buy seeds: Botanical Interests · True Leaf Market · Burpee
- Black Seeded Simpson (best for: fast, easy leaf lettuce): On Cornell Cooperative Extension's selected list of vegetable varieties for New York gardeners as a looseleaf lettuce, and starred there as a gardener favorite: at least four New York gardeners rated it, averaging above 3.5 stars. It's the loose, headless leaf type, the counterpart to Buttercrunch's head. (source) Buy seeds: Botanical Interests · True Leaf Market · Burpee
- Little Gem (best for: compact spaces, containers): Johnny's describes this French heirloom as a mini romaine-butterhead cross, about 40 days, heavily savoyed leaves with a buttery texture, quick to close and blanch its internal leaves. The smallest-footprint variety here, worth it for containers or a tight bed. (source) Buy seeds: Botanical Interests · True Leaf Market · Burpee
Why each variety is listed comes from the source shown next to it. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement. The buy links are separate from those sources: they go to seed suppliers that sell that exact variety, and we may earn a commission on some of them.
Where to buy lettuce seeds
Botanical Interests · True Leaf Market · Burpee · High Mowing Organic Seeds (each supplier's lettuce seeds)
The varieties we recommend above each have their own buy links, for the suppliers that sell that exact variety.
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See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing lettuce" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Lettuce: The fastest, most forgiving crop for a first garden, and how to keep it from bolting in early summer heat.
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