Looking to grow your own lettuce but unsure if the middle of summer is the best time to start them off? let’s have a look and find out if you can plant lettuce in July.
Can I Plant Lettuce In July?
When sowing lettuces in July we can sow them outside and let them grow all season and harvest before the first frosts. This means we don’t have to worry about protecting them or growing them under cover.
You can keep sowing lettuce outside like this into August, so we still have lots of time to get plenty of lettuce harvested.
The only thing to be mindful of when sowing summer lettuces is that some types have a max temperature that they won’t germinate above.
So if the weather is really warm then you might have to take a little care to help them to germinate, this can be as simple as sowing in the evening and keeping them well watered until they germinate.
There are some types which will do better in the summer heat than others and I will talk about those below.
What Variety To Grow
For most of us in the UK, this is usually more of a question of what type you want to grow as most lettuce types will do just fine with our summer weather.
If we do have a particularly hot summer though then some types will be more prone to bolting than others, so it is always wise to grow a variety that is more resistant to bolting when sowing in July.
Loose Leaf (Pick and Come Again)
These are non-heading lettuce types. All this means is that they don’t form a dense head like iceberg lettuce would.
You simply keep picking away at the leaves from the outside, giving you a continuous supply of lettuce leaves.
Lolla Rossa is one of my favourite loose leaf salads for growing and it can be sown all summer long without issue, find the seeds here.
Cos
This type of lettuce is very popular in supermarkets and you can easily grow it yourself all summer long. Parris Island Cos is a great summer variety to grow because of its resistance to bolting.
Little Gems
These are one of my favourite varieties of lettuce to grow, simply because of how easy they are to grow, and because they are one of the fastest to harvest available.
They will grow pretty much anywhere and be ready to harvest in as little as two months from germination.
Again you can find the seeds here.