Leaf Lettuce

Another cool-season crop, lettuce tends to bolt when summer highs consistently top 21°C. Fortunately, highyielding leaf lettuce matures quickly, so there’s still time to enjoy a bountiful second harvest once the worst of the summer heat has passed—picking the outside leaves of heat-tolerant loose-leaf types begins long before the plant’s maturity date. Seed sown in midto late summer at two-week intervals will supply you with salad greens until autumn; sow your final crop about 35 days before the first expected frost date in your region. Because lettuce is mostly water, it’s intolerant of drought; water regularly during dry spells.