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Planting lettuce. Some form
of it should be grown in every home garden. Lettuce is a cool weather
crop, extremely sensitive to heat, and in a large part of the nation
head lettuce cannot be grown well from seeds sown in place. In many
areas head lettuce must be started from early transplantings to
develop a good head before hot weather comes. It is better to work
with loose leaf varieties unless head lettuce generally is grown
in your area. Leaf lettuce usually does well from seeding in place.
Lettuce is adaptable to any rich soil, but lime should be added
if acidity is high.
Use rotted manure and a commercial
fertilizer with a high phosphorous proportion. Be sure to use the
correct varieties of lettuce and plant at the time proper for the
seasonal conditions of your garden. Head lettuce plants should be
set r foot apart in rows 16 inches apart.
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Leaf lettuce seeds should be sown 6 inches
apart in rows 16 inches apart, the seeds covered to a depth of 1/2 inch.
A packet of seed serves 100 feet of row. Start spring lettuce indoors
or in a hotbed and transplant to the garden when the plants have four
or five leaves. If the plants are properly hardened, a temperature 2 or
3 degrees below freezing is not usually injurious.
Allow about 6 weeks for the growing of the
plants. For fall lettuce the seeds may be sown directly in the garden
and the rows thinned to a clearance of 12 to 15 inches each way. In thinning
it is advisable to cut the entire plant rather than to remove the leaves.
May King, New York, Unrivaled, Big Boston, White Boston, Iceberg, and
Hanson are excellent varieties of head lettuce, New York and Big Boston
needing more time than the others. Black-Seeded Simpson is one of the
best of the leaf lettuce. Cos, or romaine, is an upright loose-heading
type; it should be handled as head lettuce.
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