
Lettuce Heads Up

Romaine: Most familiar are the Romaines, whose broadly oblong, upright leaves cluster around thick, juicy full flavored hearts. Romaine leaves are sweet and crunchy with lots of substance. They hold up well to heavy dressings or in sandwich use; in Middle Eastern and in many Asian cuisines they are used as edible food wrappers or servers. Commercial Romaines are being bred for large size and weight (the current nationwide popularity of Caesar salads featuring romaine has put a new premium on large scale production) and supermarket varieties can often have tough, rather leathery huge leaves. In your own garden, you can plant more tasty varieties of these sturdy heading lettuces. You'll find our fine heirloom Romaine included in the Caesar Duo for an excellent variety of texture and shape and flavor.
![]() Finely bred by the French, our Blush Batavians forms weather resistant rosettes of big, tender leaves in handsome big heads that look for all the world like a leafy rose. The crunchy leaves are handsome reds and greens and combine flavor and excellent garden performance. Merveille De 4 Saisons is an especially weather tolerant butterhead. |
![]() To purchase other Renee's Garden Seeds, click here Try these great recipes from Renee's cookbooks: ![]() Salad Dressing Fresh Orange Salad Dressing Sesame Salad Dressing |


Whenever you plant it, be certain to keep lettuce evenly moist to encourage even growth and sweet flavored leaves. Fertilize several times during the growing season with a dilute (1/2 strength) solution of fish emulsion and liquid kelp/seaweed to encourage leafy growth. Keep pesky birds from eating young lettuces by covering them with row cover or stringing reflective foil tape above the lettuce bed. If you see evidence of their damage, hand picking earwigs, slugs and snails rigorously after dark for 4 or 5 days when they are active is usually an effective way to deal with these pests. Otherwise, bait around the edges of the bed. If a spell of hot weather hits, or you must plant in hotter than desirable conditions, suspend shade cloth above the lettuce bed to protect the plants (available from garden centers) I've even used a big sun umbrella in an unexpected heat wave last spring. Keep the bed carefully watered. If weather continues very hot, plan on harvesting early when summer has really come on. When days begin to bake to 90˚F. range, finish eating your spring lettuce crop and wait until late summer to begin planting again.
While most kinds of seeds can be stored for several seasons lettuce seed is not a reliable keeper because it does not always hold its germination rate. If you do wish to keep extra seed, store it inside in a cool, dry place and plan to sow seed a little thicker the second season. Discard if you do not use after 2 seasons.
Romaine: Most familiar are the Romaines, whose broadly oblong, upright leaves cluster around thick, juicy full flavored hearts. Romaine leaves are sweet and crunchy with lots of substance. They hold up well to heavy dressings or in sandwich use; in Middle Eastern and in many Asian cuisines they are used as edible food wrappers or servers. Commercial Romaines are being bred for large size and weight (the current nationwide popularity of Caesar salads featuring romaine has put a new premium on large scale production) and supermarket varieties can often have tough, rather leathery huge leaves. In your own garden, you can plant more tasty varieties of these sturdy heading lettuces. You'll find our fine heirloom Romaine included in the Caesar Duo for an excellent variety of texture and shape and flavor.
![]() Finely bred by the French, our Blush Batavians forms weather resistant rosettes of big, tender leaves in handsome big heads that look for all the world like a leafy rose. The crunchy leaves are handsome reds and greens and combine flavor and excellent garden performance. Merveille De 4 Saisons is an especially weather tolerant butterhead. |
![]() To purchase other Renee's Garden Seeds, click here Try these great recipes from Renee's cookbooks: ![]() Salad Dressing Fresh Orange Salad Dressing Sesame Salad Dressing |


Whenever you plant it, be certain to keep lettuce evenly moist to encourage even growth and sweet flavored leaves. Fertilize several times during the growing season with a dilute (1/2 strength) solution of fish emulsion and liquid kelp/seaweed to encourage leafy growth. Keep pesky birds from eating young lettuces by covering them with row cover or stringing reflective foil tape above the lettuce bed. If you see evidence of their damage, hand picking earwigs, slugs and snails rigorously after dark for 4 or 5 days when they are active is usually an effective way to deal with these pests. Otherwise, bait around the edges of the bed. If a spell of hot weather hits, or you must plant in hotter than desirable conditions, suspend shade cloth above the lettuce bed to protect the plants (available from garden centers) I've even used a big sun umbrella in an unexpected heat wave last spring. Keep the bed carefully watered. If weather continues very hot, plan on harvesting early when summer has really come on. When days begin to bake to 90˚F. range, finish eating your spring lettuce crop and wait until late summer to begin planting again.
While most kinds of seeds can be stored for several seasons lettuce seed is not a reliable keeper because it does not always hold its germination rate. If you do wish to keep extra seed, store it inside in a cool, dry place and plan to sow seed a little thicker the second season. Discard if you do not use after 2 seasons.