Why Grow Oakleaf Lettuce?

Beautiful & Tender Oakleaf Lettuce is a fun and easy-to-grow addition to any cool-season garden. Named for its distinctive deeply lobed leaves that resemble the shape of oak leaves, this loose-leaf lettuce adds unique texture and visual interest to raised beds, containers, and backyard gardens. The plants produce an abundance of tender leaves that can be harvested individually, allowing the center of the plant to continue growing for multiple cut-and-come-again harvests.

Tender Texture and Delicious Mild Flavor make Oakleaf Lettuce an excellent choice for fresh eating. The soft, delicate leaves have a pleasant mild flavor that pairs well with other greens and toppings without overpowering them. Harvest young leaves for colorful salad mixes or allow the plants to grow larger for sandwiches, wraps, burgers, and full-sized salads. Easy to harvest, beautiful in the garden, and versatile in the kitchen, Oakleaf Lettuce is a cool-season favorite that's just as enjoyable to grow as it is to eat.

Oakleaf Lettuce Growing Tips

• When to Plant Lettuce

Lettuce is a "cool season" vegetable that grows best in the fall and early spring months. Lettuce plants don't like warmer weather, and as a result will typically "bolt" quickly or have a bitter taste when grown in the hottest months of the year.

Oakleaf Lettuce is a head lettuce variety that will perform best when planted from transplants. It can be directly sewn in the garden for leaf lettuce, but you'll get more from your pack of seeds when growing it as head lettuce.

Start seeds in your greenhouse or seed starting room 3-4 weeks before your intended in-ground planting date. Once the lettuce seedlings have an established root ball and can be easily pulled from their cells/containers, they're ready to transplant.

For smaller, compact heads of lettuce, place transplants 6-8" apart in your garden. For larger heads of lettuce, place transplants 10-12" apart. Lettuce works great when planted on double or triple rows to maximize space in your garden.

• How to Fertilize Lettuce

It's always a good idea to apply some pre-plant fertilizer to the soil prior to planting lettuce. We like to sprinkle a balanced fertilizer on our raised beds or along our rows prior to planting. This ensures the plants have the right nutrients to put down roots in their new soil.

Because lettuce is such a fast growing crop, often times the pre-plant fertilizer is all it needs to form a nice head of lettuce. If your lettuce plants aren't as green as you'd like, consider making a liquid solution of AgroThrive General Purpose Fertilizer and pouring it alongside the plants

To learn more about fertilizing lettuce, watch this video.

• When to Harvest Lettuce

Lettuce can be harvested at any time throughout the growth cycle of the plant. We prefer to wait and harvest the entire head at once, but many gardeners will choose to only pluck a few leaves as they need them.

Oakleaf Lettuce will form a compact head as it enlarges. Wait until the leaves start to form into a compact head, then cut at the base of the soil. Don't wash lettuce until you're ready to use it, as it usually doesn't store well once the leaves are wet.