Winter sowing lettuce was one of my first breakthroughs in the vegetable garden. In the past, I had sown lettuce seeds directly sometime in the spring. By the time I got around to sowing the seeds, it was usually too hot. If it wasn’t too hot, the weeds would quickly take over and my lettuce crop would be lost.
It wasn’t until I started winter sowing lettuce that I was finally able to produce large, leafy heads. Before I knew it, my backyard looked like a legitimate organic farm! With the addition of weed barrier, I was able to harvest delicious salad greens well into summer. It was amazing!
The best part of this whole process is that most anyone can do it. You don’t need any fancy equipment, either. I usually begin the process of winter sowing lettuce seeds at the end of January and into February. I like starting early so that I can have some really great seedlings when it is time to transplant. However, you can definitely winter sow well into March.
I usually begin to transplant the lettuce seedlings into the garden around March 20th. This usually works out well, as the chance of snow is finally gone. However, there is still definitely light frosts which will occur.