Any tricks for growing lettuce during the hot months?

I am in northern NJ. I usually grow mixed greens, such as mesclun and keep them picked, by the leaf, very often. If you stagger your planting and re-seed every 2 weeks or so, you should have a fine supply all season. Watch carefully for bolt and "nip it in the bud", as it were. If you are vigilant, you can avoid bitterness.

Again, I do not grow "head" lettuce, only leaf, so your problem might be quite different and my solution not useful.

Boron

Grow them under the tomatoes, or better, under the beans, switch to a summer lettuce variety, or better, use two summer varieties, one early one late, so you get two crops out of one seeding. I use a cold hardy mix for overwintering, oak leaf for the spring and summer, and a couple romaine species in the spring. Even in spring, I plant a later variety amongst the garlic, to get a later crop. The garlic light shade delays maturity further. I also have a spot in the herb garden, that used to be full sun but now is part shade, currently occupied by rapini but to be seeded with lettuce in july.

------- I like the idea of planting the lettuce between my tomato plants. I'll try that this year. Thanks

---pete---

Yeah, I do all leaf lettuce too. I start mine indoors in early march ant they take 2 months to get to transplant size. I never seem to have much luck with seeding direct in the garden.

What is the best technique for planting lettuce in the garden?

---pete---

I start Romaine indoors under lights about a month before setting out in the spring. Seeds are broadcast in trays filled with potting soil, then thinned to stand about 2" apart. I also broadcast some seed outdoors at the same time, rake them in lightly, and cover the seed bed with a light pine straw mulch to prevent the soil from drying. Germination takes longer sowing outdoors but the results are usually good.

Come mid-August, I sow more seeds indoors and set out the 4" seedlings mid-September.

As for growing lettuce in the summer; here in Zone 7 along the mid-Atlantic US coastal plain, I don't even bother. It/s too hot and humid and besides, my limited garden space is filled with plants that love the heat. You might try putting a lattice over the plants to create some shade, plant them in the shade of taller plants, or someplace where they get only the morning sun.

----- Lettuce plants are so delicate. How do you separate them when it's time to plant in garden?

---pete---

When I say thinned, I meant that I transplant the 1-1.5" sprouts into another tray on 2" centers.

A couple weeks later, the sprouts have b/come 3-4" seedlings ready for hardening off.

Before I transplant to the garden, I add a little water to moisten the potting soil so the seedlings can be gently removed from the tray.