How to Grow Lettuce and Salad Leaves in the UK

Lettuce is the quickest and most forgiving crop you can grow in the UK. Loose-leaf types are ready to pick 4-6 weeks after sowing. You don’t need a big plot, a greenhouse or any special kit. A window box, a few pots on the patio or a short row in a raised bed will keep you in fresh salad from spring to late autumn.

What types of lettuce and salad leaves can you grow in the UK?

There are four main types of lettuce, plus some brilliant non-lettuce salads. Grow a mix and you’ll get lots of different flavours, textures and colours.

Butterhead

Butterheads form soft, loose heads of smooth, round leaves with a mild, buttery taste. Tom Thumb is the classic little one, forming a head about the size of a tennis ball. All The Year Round lives up to its name and is slower to bolt than most. They’re the gentlest-tasting lettuces and lovely in mixed salads.

Cos and romaine

Cos (or romaine) lettuces grow tall and upright with crisp, crunchy ribs. Little Gem is the UK favourite: small, quick and sweet. Lobjoits Green Cos makes big, dense heads. Winter Density is a cos-butterhead cross that copes with cooler weather. Cos types have more crunch and flavour than butterheads.

Loose-leaf

Loose-leaf types don’t form a head. They grow as a rosette of separate leaves and are the best for cut-and-come-again picking. Salad Bowl (green or red), frilly red Lollo Rossa and Oak Leaf are ready in just 4-6 weeks. A packet of mixed leaf gives you several kinds in one row. They’re the easiest lettuces for beginners.

Loose-leaf types are ready in four to six weeks and keep regrowing after picking. They’re the easiest lettuces for beginners.

Crisphead and iceberg

Crispheads, including iceberg, make big, dense, crunchy heads. They take the longest and are the fussiest to grow well. Webbs Wonderful is a good one for UK gardens, with heavy, tasty heads. They need steady moisture and bolt more easily than other types, so sow them in April or May for a summer crop.

Beyond lettuce: rocket, mizuna, and lamb’s lettuce

Some non-lettuce salads grow brilliantly here and fill the gaps. Rocket adds a peppery kick and comes up within a few days. Mizuna has feathery, mildly mustardy leaves and is very frost-hardy. Lamb’s lettuce (corn salad) is one of the toughest winter salads, with little rosettes of nutty leaves right through to March. Winter purslane (claytonia) is mild and slightly sweet, and seeds itself about.

Lettuce variety comparison

Choose by how much space you have, when you want to pick and whether you like leaves or whole heads.

Gardener’s tip: Grow at least three kinds at once. If one bolts, another is still going. Loose-leaf for quick pickings, a cos for crunch and a butterhead for whole heads is a great mix.

When and how to sow lettuce seeds

Lettuce seeds are tiny but tough. They’ll come up in cool soil, but they hate heat. In very hot weather they simply sulk and won’t germinate, which matters in July and August.

Sowing indoors

Start your first sowings indoors on a windowsill or in a propagator from February. Sow thinly in trays or modules of peat-free seed compost and cover with a light sprinkle of vermiculite. Keep them cool rather than hot. They usually come up in a week or so.

Modules are better than open trays, as each seedling gets its own little root ball and moves without fuss. Sow 2-3 seeds per module and keep the strongest. Harden off for a week before planting out from late March.

Sowing outdoors

From March, sow straight into the ground. Make a shallow drill 1cm deep and water it before sowing, not after, so the tiny seeds don’t get washed away. Sow thinly, then thin seedlings to their final spacing once they have 4 true leaves.

For sowing dates for all your veg, see our UK vegetable planting calendar.

Water the drill before you sow, not after, so the tiny seeds don’t wash away. Then cover them with just a thin layer of soil.

Spacing

• Loose-leaf for cutting: sow in a band 15cm wide, no thinning needed
• Loose-leaf as single plants: 15cm apart
• Little Gem and small cos: 20cm apart
• Butterhead: 25cm apart
• Crisphead and iceberg: 30cm apart
• Rows: 30cm apart for all types

Succession sowing: the golden rule

Sow a short row every 2-3 weeks from March to August. It’s the most important lettuce trick of all. One sowing gives you a few weeks of picking before it runs to seed. Sow it all at once and you’ll get a glut, then nothing.

Pop a reminder on your phone. Each row only needs to be 60-90cm long, which is plenty for two people. Keep sowing little and often and there’ll always be young plants coming on.

Month-by-month sowing and harvesting calendar

This works for most of the UK. In Scotland and the north, shift things a week or two later in spring and earlier in autumn.

What is cut-and-come-again and how do you do it?

Cut-and-come-again is the most productive way to grow salad. Instead of waiting for a full head, you snip the young leaves when they’re 5-10cm tall. The growing point is left behind and pushes out fresh leaves within a few weeks. You get three or four cuts from one sowing.

How to do it

1. Scatter loose-leaf seed across a band 15cm wide
2. Don’t thin. The close spacing is on purpose
3. When the leaves are 5-10cm tall, usually 4-6 weeks after sowing, snip them with scissors 2-3cm above the soil
4. Water and give a weak liquid feed after cutting
5. They grow back in a few weeks. Cut again at 5-10cm
6. After three or four cuts the plants tire. Pull them out and let your next sowing take over

The best kinds for this are Salad Bowl, Lollo Rossa, Oak Leaf, mixed leaf, rocket and mizuna. Cos and butterheads don’t regrow as well, so grow those to full heads.

Snip leaves 2-3cm above the soil and they’ll grow back for three or four cuts. A weak liquid feed after each cut helps.

Where it works best

It’s perfect for pots, window boxes and small spaces. One 60cm trough on a balcony gives enough mixed leaves for a salad a couple of times a week. It works in raised beds and veg plots too, and makes great use of space.

How to stop lettuce bolting

Bolting is when lettuce stops making leaves and sends up a tall flower stalk. The leaves turn bitter and it’s no good for eating. Heat, dry soil and long days set it off. It’s the biggest frustration of summer lettuce growing.

Prevention strategies

• Choose bolt-resistant varieties. All The Year Round, Saladin and Little Gem hold on better than most. Seed packets usually say.
• Give afternoon shade. From June to August, lettuce likes shade in the hottest part of the day. Grow it next to taller crops like runner beans, sweetcorn or tomatoes, or peg shade cloth over the row.
• Keep the soil moist. Dry soil is a big trigger. Mulch with compost or straw and water every 2-3 days in dry spells.
• Sow the right kinds at the right time. Stick to bolt-resistant types for midsummer sowings.
• Pick promptly. Don’t leave ripe lettuces in the ground hoping they’ll keep. A picked lettuce can’t bolt.

Gardener’s tip: If the middle of a lettuce starts to stretch upwards, pick it straight away. That’s the first sign of bolting, and the outer leaves will still be good.

A stretching centre is the first sign of bolting. Pick it straight away, as the outer leaves will still be good.

How to protect lettuce from slugs

Slugs are the number one lettuce pest in the UK. They feed at night, leaving ragged holes, and can polish off young seedlings overnight. If you’re starting a vegetable garden, slug control is a skill you’ll use every year.

Effective slug control methods

• Nematodes. Water them onto the soil from March, once it’s warmed up a little. These tiny creatures attack slugs in the soil. Repeat every 6 weeks or so. They’re great for bad slug years.
• Evening patrols. Head out an hour or two after dark with a torch and pick slugs off your plants. Done regularly, it works surprisingly well. Our guide on how to get rid of slugs has more ideas.
• Beer traps. Sink a jam jar or yoghurt pot into the soil with the rim 2cm above ground and half-fill with cheap beer. Slugs fall in. Empty and refill every few days.
• Wool pellets and grit. Spread a ring of wool pellets or sharp grit around plants or rows. Slugs don’t like crossing rough, dry surfaces. Top up after heavy rain.

Protecting young seedlings

Seedlings are most at risk in their first few weeks after planting out. Cut the bottom off a 2-litre plastic bottle and pop it over each one. It keeps slugs off and acts like a mini greenhouse. Remove it once the plant is too big.

A cut-down bottle keeps slugs off and works like a mini greenhouse. Lift it off once the plant fills it.

Growing lettuce in containers and on windowsills

Lettuce is one of the best crops for pots. It has shallow roots, grows fast and looks pretty. You don’t need a garden at all.

Container options

• Window boxes: at least 60cm long and 15cm deep. Perfect for a row of cut-and-come-again leaves.
• Pots: 25cm across or more. Three loose-leaf plants or one butterhead per pot.
• Grow bags: hold 6-8 lettuces. Cut a long slit in the top and plant through it.
• Troughs: great for little-and-often sowing. Sow half now and the other half in two weeks.
• Hanging baskets: loose-leaf lettuces tumble over the edge nicely. A 35cm basket holds 4-5 plants.

A 60cm window box gives enough leaves for a salad a couple of times a week. In summer, a spot with afternoon shade helps stop bolting.

Container growing tips

Use peat-free multi-purpose compost with some perlite mixed in. Lettuce needs steady moisture without being waterlogged, so water daily in warm weather and check twice a day in a heatwave.

Feed every 2 weeks with a weak, balanced liquid feed. Lettuce is a leafy crop, so skip the high-potash tomato feed.

From June to August, put pots where they get morning sun and afternoon shade. A spot by a north-facing wall or in the shadow of a bigger planter helps stop bolting.

Windowsill salad

Sow mixed leaves in a seed tray or shallow pot on a bright windowsill. You can be cutting baby leaves 3-4 weeks later, even in winter. Turn the tray every day so the plants don’t lean towards the light.

Growing winter salads

The salad season doesn’t have to stop in October. Several tough salads grow right through a British winter with a little help. Sow them in late summer and pick from October to March.

Best winter salad varieties

Lamb’s lettuce (corn salad) is the toughest of all. It makes little rosettes of round, nutty leaves and shrugs off hard frost. Sow in August or September, 10cm apart, and pick leaves as you need them for months.

Mizuna has delicate, feathery leaves with a mild mustard flavour. It’s very hardy and quick, with leaves ready in about a month. Brilliant for cut-and-come-again through winter.

Winter purslane (claytonia) has mild, slightly sweet, heart-shaped leaves. It’s very hardy and seeds itself about, so it comes back year after year. An easy winter crop.

Mibuna is mizuna’s broader-leafed cousin, with a stronger mustard bite.

Lamb’s lettuce and mizuna shrug off hard frost. A cold frame or cloche keeps the leaves clean and makes them grow faster.

Winter protection

Cover winter salads with fleece or cloches from November. It’s not really about frost, as these plants are tough. It keeps the leaves clean and dry, and they grow faster and look much nicer on the plate.

Even without cover they’ll survive most UK winters, but covered plants give you more.

The RHS guide to winter salads has more varieties to try. For year-round sowing plans and cold frame tips, see our winter salad harvesting guide.

Common mistakes when growing lettuce

Sowing too much at once

The classic mistake. A long row sown in one go all matures at once, and half of it bolts before you can eat it. Sow little and often instead.

Sowing too deep

Lettuce seed likes light to germinate. Bury it deep and it may not come up. Cover it with just a thin layer of compost or vermiculite, or press it into moist compost and leave it uncovered. If thinning tiny seedlings drives you mad, seed tapes space them for you and cost pennies to make.

Watering from above on mature plants

Splashing water over big lettuces traps damp in the middle, which can lead to rot and mildew. Water at the base instead, ideally in the morning so the leaves dry off before night.

Ignoring slug control

One slug can wipe out a row of seedlings overnight. Start your defences before you plant. Prevention works far better than catching up.

Not providing summer shade

Full sun is fine in spring and autumn. But in a hot British summer, lettuce in full sun can bolt within days of being ready. Grow it where taller crops or a fence give afternoon shade, or peg shade cloth over the row.

Leaving mature heads too long

A ripe lettuce left a few extra days in warm weather starts to bolt. Pick as soon as heads feel firm or leaves are big enough. Spare lettuce keeps for about a week in the fridge wrapped in a damp tea towel.

Feeding and watering

Lettuce grows fast and doesn’t need much feeding, but it does need steady moisture.

Watering

Water every 2-3 days in dry weather. Lettuce shows thirst quickly, and leaves that wilt and recover often taste bitter. Being consistent is what matters. Dry, then soaked, then dry again causes the most problems.

• Water in the morning so leaves dry off during the day
• Water at the base of the plants, not over the top
• Mulch with compost or straw to hold moisture in
• Pots need daily watering in warm weather

Feeding

Dig in some garden compost before sowing and that’s usually all lettuce needs. In pots or poor soil, give a weak liquid feed every 2 weeks. Use a balanced feed, not tomato feed.

Don’t overdo it. Too much feed makes soft, watery leaves that greenfly love. If your soil gets regular compost, lettuce needs no extra feed at all.

Harvesting lettuce

When to harvest

• Cut-and-come-again: snip at 5-10cm tall, from about 4 weeks after sowing
• Loose-leaf plants: pick outer leaves as needed from about 6 weeks
• Little Gem and cos: pick whole heads when firm, 8-10 weeks after sowing
• Butterhead: pick when the head feels full and rounded, 8-10 weeks
• Crisphead: pick when the head is big and firm, 10-12 weeks

How to harvest

Pick in the early morning when the leaves are crispest. Cut heads at the base with a sharp knife. For loose-leaf, snap off the outer leaves and leave the middle to keep growing.

Wash in cold water, spin dry and keep in a sealed bag in the fridge. Home-grown lettuce lasts about a week like this, often longer than shop-bought bags.

Now you’ve got lettuce sorted, read our guide on raised bed gardening for beginners to see how a raised bed gives you better drainage, fewer slugs and a longer salad season.

Frequently asked questions

When should I sow lettuce seeds in the UK?

Sow outdoors from March to August. You can start earlier indoors from February on a bright windowsill. Lettuce seed comes up poorly in hot weather, so avoid sowing in a midsummer heatwave. Sow winter salads like lamb’s lettuce and mizuna in August and September for pickings from October to March.

How often should I water lettuce?

Every 2-3 days in dry weather. Lettuce wilts fast when the soil dries out. Water in the morning, at the base of the plants, so the leaves stay dry. Pots need daily watering in warm weather. Uneven watering gives bitter leaves and makes bolting more likely.

Why has my lettuce bolted?

Heat, dry soil and long summer days are the usual triggers. Choose bolt-resistant varieties like All The Year Round and Saladin for summer sowings. Give plants afternoon shade from June to August, keep the soil moist and pick heads as soon as they’re ready.

Can I grow lettuce in pots and containers?

Yes, lettuce is one of the best crops for pots. Its shallow roots suit pots, window boxes, troughs and grow bags. Use peat-free multi-purpose compost with some perlite. Space loose-leaf types 15cm apart and hearting types 25cm apart. Feed every fortnight and water daily in warm weather.

What is cut-and-come-again lettuce?

It’s a way of picking, not a type of lettuce. Sow loose-leaf seed in a thick band and snip the leaves with scissors when they’re 5-10cm tall. Leave a 2-3cm stump and it grows back in a few weeks. You get three or four cuts from one sowing. Salad Bowl, Lollo Rossa and mixed leaf work best.

How do I protect lettuce from slugs?

Use several tricks together, and start early. Water nematodes onto the soil from March. Add evening torch patrols, beer traps and barriers of wool pellets or grit. Cover young transplants with cut-off plastic bottles for their first few weeks.

Can I grow salad leaves in winter?

Yes, several tough salads crop right through a British winter. Sow lamb’s lettuce, mizuna and winter purslane in August or September and you can pick from October to March. Cover them with fleece from November to keep the leaves clean and growing. A sunny windowsill works for mixed leaves too.