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🔍 Click to enlargevegetableannual💧 Hydroponic-Compatible
Lettuce
Lactuca sativa
Fast-growing cool-season crop. Cut-and-come-again varieties last all season.
Quick Facts
Sun:⛅ Partial Shade, ☀️ Full Sun
Water:💧💧 Moderate
USDA Zones:Zones 3–11
Space:🪴 Container, 🌱 Small Bed, 🏡 Large Garden
Soil:Loam, Silty, Peaty
Best Season(s):Spring, Fall
Experience Level:🌱 Beginner
Native Range:Mediterranean Basin & Western Asia
Bloom Color:Small yellow flowers if allowed to bolt (grown for leaves)
Bloom Cycle:Bolts to bloom in heat — a sign the crop is finishing, not the goal
Days to Harvest:30–45 days in hydro (faster than soil)
Harvest Pattern:Continuous / cut-and-come-again
Care Notes
Bolts in heat — plant in spring or fall. Keep soil consistently moist.
💧 Hydroponic Notes
One of the best hydroponic plants. Works excellently in NFT, Kratky, or DWC. Harvest outer leaves for continuous production. Grow year-round indoors.
Growing Details
Mature Size:6-12 in tall, 6-10 in wide depending on type (head vs. loose-leaf)
Growth Rate:🐇 Fast
Zone Performance
In Zones 3-6, lettuce is essentially a spring-and-fall-only crop, since it bolts and turns bitter once temperatures consistently exceed 75-80°F, leaving a short window on either side of summer. In Zones 8-11, gardeners instead grow it through fall, winter, and early spring, avoiding the hot months entirely and choosing heat-tolerant varieties for the shoulder seasons.
Companions & Wildlife
🦌 Deer Resistance
frequently damaged
Tender, water-rich leaves make lettuce one of the first crops deer target, and a single browsing visit can wipe out an entire bed overnight.
🐝 Pollinator Value
low
Grown as a leaf crop harvested before flowering, lettuce offers little pollinator value unless allowed to bolt, at which point its small yellow flowers draw a few tiny native bees and hoverflies.
Good Companions
Carrot — Lettuce is shallow-rooted and shade-tolerant enough to intercrop between carrot rows without competing.
Chives — Chives' scent helps deter aphids, a common pest on tender lettuce leaves.
Troubleshooting
⚠️ Bolting and turning bitter in warm weather
Plant heat-tolerant or bolt-resistant varieties for late-season crops and provide afternoon shade once temperatures climb.
⚠️ Slugs and snails shredding leaves
Set out shallow beer traps or apply iron phosphate bait around the bed, and water in the morning so soil surface dries by evening.
⚠️ Slow, spotty germination in warm soil
Lettuce seed goes dormant above roughly 80°F, so sow in late afternoon and keep the seedbed cool and shaded until sprouting.
⚠️ Aphids hiding in leaf folds
Rinse plants with a strong water spray and encourage predatory insects by interplanting with alliums or flowering herbs.
✅ Pet Safety
Non-toxic to cats and dogs.
Informational only — always check with a veterinarian if you suspect your pet has eaten something it shouldn't have.