If you're new to gardening, growing lettuces in containers, raised beds, or traditional garden beds is a great place to start. There are numerous delicious heirloom varieties with different textures and flavors to choose from. Some of the recommended types include Little Gem, Buttercrunch, and Arctic King. You can sow these tasty lettuces from seeds right after the last hard frost or opt for starts from nurseries for a summer full of fresh heirloom lettuce.
Before you start growing lettuce, it's essential to understand a few basics. Lettuce thrives in well-drained, fertile soil enriched with compost and requires either full or partial sun. Excessive sunlight and high temperatures can lead to bolting, a process where lettuce grows rapidly, flowers, and produces seeds. This can result in home-grown lettuce tasting bitter, but there are ways to prevent this issue. One method is to provide shade for the lettuce during the hottest part of the day. For example, planting it next to a row of sunflowers can offer shade in the afternoon.
Why Garden Lettuce Tastes Bitter and What to Do
Lettuce can be harvested when the leaves are "baby" size or allowed to mature to full size leafy heads. The heat of summer makes growing lettuce challenging, so most gardeners wait until late summer to sow a second crop of seeds as temperatures begin to cool down. Try to harvest this vegetable as close as possible to when you will be using it, as it tastes best when it has been freshly picked.
Red Oak
Red oak refers to a variety of heirloom oakleaf lettuce that has many cultivars. Oakleaf lettuces have frilly leaves with scalloped edges that make them resemble oak leaves. The red oak lettuces are olive green with burgundy accents, with a very sweet taste and a buttery texture. Red oak lettuces have been found to have high levels of beneficial antioxidants. These lettuces make a wonderful base for fresh summer salads and are delicious in wraps and sandwiches. Some excellent red oak varieties to try include Cobham, Oscarde, Danyelle, Paradai, Red coral, and Vulcan.
Buttercrunch
True to its name, Buttercrunch lettuce has a sweet, buttery flavor and wonderful smooth texture in the outer leaves of spring green, with an interior head of lighter-colored, crisper leaves. This classic butterhead heirloom is well-loved for its diminutive size, which makes it easy to grow and also beautiful for dinner table presentations. It is slow to bolt and can tolerate the summer heat fairly well, and seeds can be sown every few weeks in summer for continual harvest. This lettuce tastes best if harvested in the morning and should be kept cool (but not refrigerated if possible) until serving.
3. Deer tongue
The playful name of this lettuce variety refers to the slender, pointed leaves being shaped like a deer's tongue. It is a loose-leaf variety, meaning it doesn't form tight heads or rosettes like other lettuces but instead forms an attractive pointy pinwheel shape in the garden. Deer tongue lettuce comes in a number of cultivars, with both sprightly green and attractive red varieties. The flavor of Deer tongue lettuce is nutty and sweet, with a very tender texture. The flat leaves are great for sandwiches and wraps. The plants are generally vigorous and heat-tolerant.
4. Lollo rosso
This frilly heirloom lettuce looks like sparkling red rubies in the garden. Lollo rosso is one of a number of red lettuce cultivars bred for their brilliant color. These lettuces do not form heads or rosettes but instead put out branches from a central base, and leaves can be harvested singularly as needed. It has a crisp yet tender texture and a complex flavor profile: sweet and nutty with a slight hint of bitterness common in many greens. The curly, frilly leaves are excellent for salads as they hold onto dressings and toppings like seeds and nuts.
5. Flashy trout back
Flashy trout back lettuce, also known as Forellenschluss, is an Austrian heirloom variety that translates to "speckled like a trout." The name describes the lettuce's appearance, with green leaves that are speckled with maroon spots, resembling the skin of a trout fish. This lettuce has a mild and sweet flavor, making it a popular choice for salads. The leaves are tender and crisp, adding a delightful texture to dishes. Flashy trout back lettuce is easy to grow and adds a pop of color to any garden or plate.
Flashy trout back is one of several similar-looking cultivars, long known in Germany as "Forellenschluss" which means "speckled like a trout." These colorful lettuces are bright apple green with dark red spots and really liven up salads with their unusual hues. This is a romaine type of lettuce, with smaller, looser heads than the romaines found in grocery stores. The leaves are sweet, crisp, and flavorful as "cut and come again" baby leaves or mature heads. This lettuce is cold hardy and does well late in the season as nights turn colder before frost.
Little Gem lettuce, with its compact, pale green elongated heads, is the perfect choice for dishes that require "hearts of romaine" or for creating braised lettuces, as showcased in the charming 2023 French film "The Taste Of Things." This current cultivar gaining popularity in the U.S. is actually the same as the beloved English heirloom variety Sucrine or Sugar cos. Combining qualities of both butterhead and romaine lettuces, Little Gem has a buttery texture and taste while maintaining a sturdy structure that makes it ideal for grilling and crafting lettuce wrap sandwiches. Best grown in full sun, this lettuce variety reaches maturity in 45 to 50 days.
This variety is one of the oldest heirloom lettuces grown in North America, dating back to the 1830s, and is named for a well-loved children's story. These diminutive lettuces grow to round heads only 4 or 5 inches across, making them perfect for individual salads. They're also an excellent vegetable for a container garden, as they can be planted in window boxes or hanging baskets. This lettuce has lovely coloring (dark green outer leaves and pale green inner leaves), and an all around sweet, slightly-savory and delicate flavor. It grows quickly, providing full size (but tiny!) heads that can be harvested in 45 days.
