Vegetables

Secrets to Growing Lettuce in a Pot or Container

Add commentJanuary 31, 20212 min read

Summary:

Learn to grow Lettuce in Containers or Pots

Secrets to growing lettuce in a pot or container are starting them out strong indoors. There are many different types of lettuce you can grow in your container garden. My favorite is the Green or Purple Leaf Lettuce.

Table of Contents

Varieties of Lettuce

Leaf Lettuce
Romaine Lettuce
Iceberg Lettuce
Boston or Bibb Lettuce
Frisee

Planting Your Lettuce Seeds

Lettuce growing in soil — Credit to Pezibear

Choose a pot that is at least 6″ deep. You can plant more than one type of lettuce in a larger container maybe with some chives to keep pests away. Or you can use a longer and thinner container for heads of lettuce.

Keep them watered and evenly moist until they are ready to be moved outdoors. I do find lettuce very hard to transplant if you have too many plants in one pot. So space them out about 4-5″ apart to give them room to grow.

Lettuce growing in pot on balcony — Credit Good Gardener -Mark Kavanagh

Using Larger Containers For Optimal Growth To Protect Against Pests

Lettuce growing in container greenhouse — Credit to titosoft

Depending on where you live if you have critters like rabbits, rats, and squirrels, you may just want to put the lettuce in a container with a greenhouse effect. At night you can close the lid and not worry about them munching away at your crop.

Lettuce Pest Identifications

Lettuce is prone to Cucumber Mosaic Virus, Leaf Drop, Downy Mildew, and Mosaic virus. It should be closely monitored and you can use the pest identification on GrowVeg to determine the problem and get some solutions.

Harvesting Your Lettuce Plants from Your Containers or Pots

You can start picking away at your lettuce around 25 days after planting. Try to always pick from the outer side of the plant. This allows the lettuce to keep growing and produce more leaves. Leaf lettuce grows for about 5-6 weeks after planting. I usually do a few pots where I can plant in segments to have ongoing lettuce.

Because lettuce only has a short life cycle, eat away at your heart’s content. If you wait your lettuce may taste bitter or not as good as it would before flowering.