Early varieties of lettuce can be grown at home as early as February. This has the advantage that you can harvest significantly earlier. Find out below which varieties are suitable for preference and how to proceed step by step.
How can I successfully grow lettuce?
To grow lettuce successfully, you need potting soil, seed trays, seeds and water. Fill the trays with soil, moisten them, sow two seeds per tray and cover them lightly with soil. Water carefully and keep the shells moist.
Early lettuce varieties
In specialist stores you will come across numerous different types of lettuce. These differ not only in their appearance, but also in their sowing dates. If you want to grow lettuce at home, you should choose an early variety. Examples of options here are:
- Dynamite
- Grazer Krauthäuptel 2
- May King
- Merveille of the 4th season
- Muck
- Sylvesta
- Veronique
- Viktoria
A comprehensive overview of early, middle and late varieties can be found here.
The best conditions for germination
Lettuce germinates best at temperatures between 16 and 18 degrees. Temperatures above 20 or below 10 degrees inhibit germination. Furthermore, drafts should be avoided and uniform watering should be ensured. Lettuce germinates particularly well under foil or glass, but a bright location near the window is also sufficient.
A guide to growing lettuce
To grow lettuce, all you need is potting soil or soil enriched with compost, seed trays (€35.00 on Amazon), some water and the seeds. Then proceed as follows:
- Fill the seed trays three-quarters full with soil.
- Water the soil with a little water.
- Place two or more seeds in each bowl.
- Cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil (about 0.5cm).
- Pour the bowls carefully again. Be careful not to wash away the soil.
If you have the opportunity to cover the bowls with foil or glass, do so. However, you shouldn't simply cover the bowls with foil, as that would prevent the plants from growing! Instead, use a purchased or improvised mini greenhouse. This way you ensure sufficient moisture and ideal germination conditions.
How many seeds per tray?
If these are seeds from specialist retailers, it is sufficient if you plant two seeds per tray, because the probability that all seeds will sprout is very high. However, if you are sowing self-collected seeds, it is advisable to sow several seeds (up to five or six) per tray to ensure that at least one or two seeds germinate. If you sow more than two seeds per tray, you will have to prick out the lettuce one or two weeks after sowing. You can find out how to do this here.
