How to Grow Lettuce in Houston

Learn how to grow lettuce in Houston.

The lettuces are very easy to grow: sprout fast, do not require much space, and can be cultivated in pots.

The lettuce seeds are tiny and what I recommend is to plant a small space (a square foot) with lots of seeds, broadcast and when the seedlings are 3″ tall, separate them and transplant to their final place. Is better if you transplant every 4-5 days so that the plants are ready to harvest in a staggered way and you have fresh lettuce to eat for several weeks.
Here, in Houston, lettuces is an exclusive winter crop, when the temperatures rise to over 86F, the lettuces become bitter.
Choose the variety that you like the most and try your hand, my favorite is romaine lettuce. This seed from Johnny’s are heat tolerant. So if planting in the spring, they would be my choice. You can start the season in October and usually keep harvesting into April.
As always prepare the soil with organic fertilizer and compost and keep the ground moist until the seedlings are about 2″ high, then water every other day. Watering must retain consistently, lettuce becomes bitter if stress.
Is often not advisable to wait for the lettuces to form a heart, I usually harvest them when they look like in the picture, you pull the whole plant and cut at the base in between the leaves and the roots. Some varieties never form a heart, you need to check for each variety. If you like baby greens, instead of harvesting all the lettuce plant, you can cut the outer leaves and let them grow new and keep harvesting.

When the lettuce blooms, its time has passed. Pull them up and sow something new, or leave the flowers to be enjoy by the pollinators.