Lettuce bowl by Miss Pegi.

By Pegi Cosantino

It is a perfect day to plant lettuce. The soil is moist but not soggy. The air is, well, perfect. At first glance lettuce may not be the most inspiring of garden crops but one must look closer. Beyond iceberg, even beyond romaine and Boston, is a world of fabulous and fun lettuces to tickle your palate. Johnny’s Selected Seeds, located in Maine and on-line has 126 varieties of lettuce. Green, red, assorted speckles in heading, semi-heading and loose leaf varieties. They also have five different assorted mixes. One of my personal favorites is Flashy Trout Back, a green variety with delicate leaves covered in red speckles. It does actually look a bit like the fish. Plenty of interesting varieties are available at your local garden centers.

You can grow lettuce in the garden, in nice neat rows or use one of the lettuce mixes in a patch. Here in the Grove I prefer to grow lettuce in containers on the front steps. You can certainly grow it from seed. You can even reseed every two or three weeks to have a steady supply of baby lettuce. Or you can buy young plants and pot them up. Many garden centers will have six-packs of mixed lettuce or you can create your own mix. Don’t be afraid to branch out into the not-quite-lettuces that add a bit of zing. Arugula, mustard greens and escarole will be happy next to Butter Crunch and Red Romaine in the container and in your salad.

Locate your lettuce bowl in a sunny spot but be sure to keep it well watered. If using transplants be sure not to plant too deep or they will rot at the base. Harvest the leaves from the outside to keep them growing from the center. Or cut them with scissors, but not too low. Using scissors will still require you to eventually remove the outer leaves as they yellow. To extend the season when the weather gets hot, move the container to partial shade.   Never let the container get overly dry as that will encourage the plants to go to seed. Eventually hot weather will bring an end to your lettuce garden, but start again in mid-August and you can have fresh lettuce until frost.

ANN-MARGRET  (no frost here)  “Let Me Entertain You”  from the movie Gypsy.