Planting Mesclun Leaf Lettuces in a Basic Scatter Plot Method: A Cool Weather Crop!
Lettuces and greens, in general, love cooler weather. When it gets hot, lettuces often bolt to flowering and turn bitter. Greens can often be grown in the spring and fall. They are a two season cool weather crop.
If you want full lettuce heads or mature plants then it is important to following the spacing instructions for the varieties you are growing. If you want baby lettuces or mid-size leaves like in a mesclun mix then a scatter plot method of planting will work really well. The video shows you how to do this.
Lettuces are 90% water so you really have to prepare the soil with compost or other organic matter that will retain moisture. You are growing leaves, so the key fertilizer is nitrogen. It is up to you on what kind of fertilizer you use. The video shows you how to use a basic 10-10-10 synthetic fertilizer. I have videos on organic fertilizers. I do use both but lean more heavily toward organic as time goes on.
With a scatter plot, the seeds are closer together so your lettuces won't grow to full size. The best way to harvest them is cut the leaves when small to mid-size and leave the roots in the ground. More leaves will grow back! This is also called cut and come again gardening.
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