Planting guide

When to plant lettuce

Quick, shallow-rooted salad leaves, perfect for pots and cut-and-come-again picking. In Melbourne it goes in All year.

Start as: Seed, sown in place or Seedling
Ready in: 4–9 wks
Spacing: 25 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
Sun: Half a day (3–6 hours)
Water: Regular
Effort: Easy
Frost-tender: No

When it goes in

● means lettuce can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's climate zone and season, the way planting guides do it. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Melbourne	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Brisbane	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Perth	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Adelaide	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Gold Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Newcastle	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Sunshine Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Canberra	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Central Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Geelong	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Wollongong	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Hobart	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Townsville	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Cairns	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
Toowoomba	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Darwin	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
Ballarat	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Mandurah	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Bendigo	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Launceston	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Mackay	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Rockhampton	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Coffs Harbour	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Blue Mountains	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Bunbury	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Bundaberg	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Alice Springs	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Mildura	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Port Macquarie	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Wellington	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Christchurch	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
London	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Manchester	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Edinburgh	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○
Dublin	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
New York City	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○
Los Angeles	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Chicago	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○
Seattle	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Austin	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Toronto	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○
Vancouver	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○
Cape Town	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Johannesburg	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Singapore	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Mumbai	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Paris	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Berlin	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○

How to plant lettuce

Scatter seed on moist soil and press in lightly.
Thin to 20 cm or pick baby leaves.
Water often; shade in hot afternoons.
Pick outer leaves and let the heart keep growing.

Lettuce varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

Buttercrunch Classicslow-bolting · mild · heirloom · 6–9 wksSoft, sweet butterhead that holds in warm weather
Little Gem Classicpot-friendly · sweet · fast · 6–8 wksMini cos with crisp sweet hearts; perfect for pots
Red Salad Bowl Classiccolourful · heavy-cropper · heirloom · 6–8 wksFrilly red-green leaves; pick outer leaves for months
Green Salad Bowl Classicheavy-cropper · heirloom · 6–8 wksCut-and-come-again loose-leaf; slow to bolt
Great Lakes Classicheat-tolerant · slow-bolting · 9–11 wksCrisphead iceberg that handles warmer days
Parris Island Cos Classicheirloom · sweet · 8–10 wksUpright cos with crunchy, sweet leaves
Lollo Rossa Adventurouscolourful · 6–9 wksFrilly, ruffled red-edged leaves
Freckles Adventurousheirloom · colourful · 7–9 wksSpeckled red cos that looks like a work of art
Amish Deer Tongue Adventurousheirloom · colourful · 6–9 wksPointy-leafed, tender heirloom with a buttery bite
Marvel of Four Seasons Adventurousheirloom · cold-hardy · colourful · 7–9 wksFrench butterhead with bronze-red outer leaves
Forellenschluss Adventurousheirloom · colourful · 7–9 wksSpeckled 'trout-back' Austrian cos

Where to buy seeds

Search on Seeds of Plenty Search on Happy Valley Seeds Search on The Diggers Club Search on Amazon

Shop links may earn us a commission. It never changes what we recommend.

Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Carrot, Radish, Onion

Lettuce by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Spinach · Silverbeet · Kale · Rocket · Bok Choy · Celery

Not sure lettuce is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now