I need something easy to grow, tolerates ranges of temps and good all round taste.

I'm in Z6

For planting now? Buttercrunch has good heat resistence and is slow to bolt.

I've been happy w/ deer tounge, rouge d'hiver (frech heirloom)& buttercrunch,& black seeded simpson. I've found they do well in Z 6-7.

The best one I have found is "Summertime". It actually makes heads and is heat tolerant. I've been eating it for about a month, keeping it thinned to about 8 inches apart allows the heads to form. I'll never plant other kind.

I sow Romaine very thickly and harvest the young plants all summer. I've never had a romaine bolt and I like the slightly bitter taste. My arugula is bolting but I've discovered that the leaves are very peppery and good at the mature stage. I also grow either black seeded or some loose leaf butter lettuce. The black simpson does bolt. The loose leaf I have this year is holding up pretty well, because again I sow very thickly and harvest the seedlings. This wouldn't work for commercial gardening, but is fine for the home gardener.

It depends on what your garden is like & what your average summer temps are. Frankly, no lettuces really like summer temps, & you won't get the same flavors you'd get in spring or fall-grown plants. Another consideration is that lettuce does not like to germinate in the heat, so seeds are best started indoors & then seedlings transplanted - preferably in a semi-shady spot, especially for shade during the hottest part of the day.

For growing on now, I'd suggest looking into the Batavia-types - they're somewhat heat-resistant. There are also a number of new lettuce varieties of other types that are heat-resistant - check what it says on the seed packets or online.

Depending on when your first frost is, you can start seedlings indoors to plant out for a fall lettuce harvest in the next month or so. Again, it depends on your temps - only you can figure that one.

But again - many folks do harvest summer lettuce (myself included sometimes), but normally don't expect an especially large or full-head harvest.

Thanks for the replies.

I would throw down some arugula (roquette/rocket) seeds too. Spicy, excellent in salads, sandwiches or even pesto, and a good self-seeder. Little white flowers are also edible.

quote:

Originally posted by Suasoria:
I would throw down some arugula (roquette/rocket) seeds too. Spicy, excellent in salads, sandwiches or even pesto, and a good self-seeder. Little white flowers are also edible.

Are these seeds specialized? I've never seen them in the seed racks at the store.

I don't think so. Renee's Garden, Park Seed, and Seeds of Change all show them on their web sites.

No, it's not a specialty seed. Every seed company from common Burpee to specialty Seeds of Italy sells it. And when you hit the specialty seed companies, you can buy different varieties of it.

This time of year, however, Arugula (aka Rocket or Rocquette) probably won't be found in the seed racks as it's normally grown as a very early spring green.

If you want to grow it for fall, you'll probably have to buy seeds online. If not, than look for it early next season.

AH! THAT'S IT! It's so cold in my work space, they must think I'M LETTUCE!