The four basic types of lettuce (which we discuss in the following list) offer a number of tasty varieties to delight the palate. The most common are green-colored leaf varieties, but you can grown many red- and burgundy-colored leaf varieties, too. Some varieties form solid heads, others don’t. As you look at days to maturity, remember that you can eat lettuce much younger, depending on your needs and appetite:
Crisphead: Most widely known as the “iceberg” lettuces. This type forms a solid head when mature, with white, crunchy, densely packed inner leaves. Crispheads tend to take at least 70 days to mature from seeding in the garden. Following are popular varieties:
‘Iceberg’: Compact heads have tightly-packed leaves and white hearts. Best grown in cool conditions (below 70°F/20°C) to form solid heads.
‘Sierra’ (or Batavian): French crisphead lettuce with wavy, bright green-and-red tinged leaves. Good, heat-tolerant variety.
‘Summertime’: Able to form solid heads in the heat of summer, ‘Summertime’ has green leaves and a crisp texture.
Loose heads (Bibb, Boston, or Butterhead): This lettuce type features dark or medium green leaves or red leaves and smooth, thick, outer leaves folded around a loosely-formed, yellow-to-white head. The head isn’t solid like a crisphead type, but loose heads are easier to grow, especially during the summer heat. This type matures starting at 60 days from seeding:
‘Buttercrunch’: Bolt-resistant, loose head type, ‘Buttercrunch’ has thick, juicy leaves. Best grown as a summer crop.
‘Brune d’Hiver’: Very hardy, with bronzed, light green leaves. Good as a fall or winter lettuce.
‘Deer Tongue’: Heirloom, loose head type lettuce with tongue-shaped green leaves. Slow to bolt.
Loose leaf: Loose leaf lettuce doesn’t form a solid head and is best harvested by picking off the mature outer leaves, allowing new leaves to continue growing. This type is often cut and allowed to “come again” to provide multiple crops of greens from one head. You can begin harvesting this type about 45 days from seeding:
‘Black Seeded Simpson’: Heirloom lettuce with crinkled, light green leaves.
‘Oak Leaf’: Green-leafed, this loose-leaf type features unusual, pointed, oak-shaped leaves.
‘Red Sails’: Award-winning, red, loose-leaf lettuce. Fast-growing, heat-tolerant, and very attractive.
Romaine (Cos): Romaine lettuce grows tall, upright heads and long, thick green or red leaves with solid midribs (the middle vein of the leaf). This type tends to take at least 70 days to mature from seeding and can withstand summer heat:
‘Parris Island Cos’: Green-leafed romaine lettuce has 10-inch-tall (25 cm), thick, green leaves.
‘Rosalita’: Red- to purple-colored lettuce is well-adapted to various growing regions and has yellow, blanched interior leaves.
‘Winter Density’: Green, 8-inch (20-cm) tall romaine lettuce plant is a cross between a loose head and a romaine-type lettuce. Heat- and cold-tolerant. ....read more
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