Vegetables · Cool
Lettuce
Asteraceae
At a glance
- Plant spacing
- 25 cm
- USDA zones
- 3a–10a
- Frost-sensitive
- no
- Growth duration
- 8 weeks
Which beds suit?
- Sun (prefers)
- partial shadeAlso okay:full sun
- Soil (prefers)
- loamyAlso okay:raised-bed mix
- Drainage (prefers)
- normal
Seed & start
Pre-culture recommended
Start indoors / cold frame first, transplant into the raised bed later.
Stachi's tip
Lettuce is the most rewarding beginner friend. Re-sow cut-and-come-again every 2 weeks and you'll harvest May through October without interruption. In heat, plant in part-shade or under tomatoes — otherwise it bolts.
The plant's year: sowing, transplanting, harvest
Sowing
Transplanting
Harvest
Good neighbours
Arugula
Black radish
Broccoli
Carrot
Chives
Sweet corn
Cucumber
Dill
Garden cress
Kohlrabi
Mizuna
Mustard greens
Onion
Radish
Strawberry
Wild strawberry
Traditional recommendation. Rarely studied under controlled conditions — treat it as experience, not law.
Avoid these neighbours
Traditional recommendation. Rarely studied under controlled conditions — treat it as experience, not law.
Good pre-cultures
Stachi has no specific pre-cultures recorded.
What comes after Lettuce?
When the bed frees up, the season is usually not over. We worked out what still fits afterwards — with time windows and reasons.
See follow-on crops for Lettuce →Sources
- Kreuter, Bio-Garten
- Kosmos Gartenkalender
- LLM-Baseline-Intercrop
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-09 yieldKg
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 family-zehrer
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 sun-soil-drainage
Where these figures come from
- Timing
- Horticulturally established — consistent across the cited standard works.
- Spacing
- Horticulturally established — consistent across the cited standard works.
- Companion planting
- Traditional recommendation. Rarely studied under controlled conditions — treat it as experience, not law.
- Crop rotation
- Traditional recommendation. Rarely studied under controlled conditions — treat it as experience, not law.
- Yield
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Sources: Kreuter, Bio-Garten · Kosmos Gartenkalender · LLM-Baseline-Intercrop · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-09 yieldKg · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 family-zehrer · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 sun-soil-drainage
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Products mentioned in this post
- Plantura organic tomato seed set (10 varieties)Open-pollinated, good germination — robust for raised beds.
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- Organic heirloom tomato seed set (Demeter, 12 varieties)
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