Try Nevada. It will grow large without bolting. Start seeds about a month before setting out.

Jim

Of course, if successful you will have also inferior tasting lettuce, compared to loose-leaf.

In your cool climate, you can grow the milk sweet iceberg lettuce that you won't believe until you taste it! Sow them early indoors around I'd say March in your zone and set out as transplants.

They need to be kept moist, never let them dry out. Grow them fast in fertile soil and cut them as soon as the heads are firm and tight. They are sooooo good you won't want to share.

I still remember the only time I was able to grow them successfully without bolting, in 2000. I was trying to make a salad it was like, one leaf for you... one for me... one for you... three for me... one for me... two for me...

Hahaha. Good luck!

I plan to try and get the leafy varieties to grow big as well. I have some red and green loose leaf seeds. I presume I would do the same as for the heading types?

I bought a head of green leaf lettuce the other day, one of the outer leaves was as big as a dinner plate. My previous trials I the biggest lettuce leaves I could get were about palm sized.

Hopefully with all your advice i will be able to report back later with some pictures of BIG LETTUCES!!!

Culture is the same. I have had my best results with mixtures of leaves and manure. They just like that type of compost. And you should definitely direct-seed some of your crop. My best ones are always those that sprout on their own. The transplants are earlier but never quite as large.

My favorite for really big beautiful heads is a variety called Ice Queen or Reine des Glaces. I get a lot compliments on this one. I always start them indoors and transplant them out relatively early - they're pretty cold tolerant. I'd rather start head lettuce indoors so I can space them well in the garden. I think I get the biggest heads that way when they don't have competition when crowded together. I start a second batch later for fall
planting.

Lou

Sow something like Black Simpson seeds in the ground at least a month before the last frost, preferably in a bed such as 4x4' or 4x8'. Cover with a light sheet, one that is ready for the rag pile. If it rains, once the soil/sheet dries, tug on the edges to free it from the soil. Don't over water the ground but don't let it get too dry. Once the plants get about the size of a baseball, thin them out a bit. If you keep it under covers, so to speak, it will take a long time to bolt. Our heads were always wider than taller and one head would more than feed a hungry family of seven.

You can re-sow in late summer. I did in late August and had lettuce in January, and I'm in Cincinnati (nearly three months after several killing frosts).

Mike

I have tried to get big lettuces from direct seeding in the garden, but it bolts before they can get real big.

Plant much earlier than you apparently are and increase your spacing. Overcrowded lettuce won't head up well regardless of variety.

Dave

I planted "flame", romaine, and iceburg transplants out in April. I am happy to report that my 'flame' lettuce is HUGE!

It is beautiful! All the lettuce is doing fabulous but the flame is magnificent, some are ten inches across, it looks like a picture from a seed catalog. I am sure my husband thinks I am crazy because I keep dragging him over to the garden to look at lettuce.

I also direct seeded some back in early april and have been very diligent about thinning. Should be a good season for me with lettuce.

I direct sowed Paris Island Cos, Black seeded Simpson, and Simpson Elite three weeks ago, I haven't got a single sprout. The bigger seeds I direct sowed sunflowers, pole beans, corn, melon, borage,nast all seem to have had decent germination.

I'm wondering if the rain has buried my seeds to deep? I direct sowed alot of flowers also and am not seeing any of them.

rj_hythloday

Some lettuce won't germinate if you cover the seeds -- they require light. It's either dark or light-colored seed this rule applies to, and since I can't remember which, I sow all lettuce on top of the soil, where both kinds of seed germinate.

Also, lettuce seeds do not have a long self-life. I think tops is 2-3 years.

But give your seeds more time. If it's been overcast and rainy for days on end for you as it has been here, smaller seeds may germinate more slowly. My cukes, squash, and beans all germinated enthusiastically in this weather, but not my chives. Of course you may be right that the rain washed too much soil on top of the seeds you planted, but still, it could just be that they're slow, not buried. I'd replant in a week if they still haven't germinated.