Having fresh lettuce to harvest from spring through to winter isn't reserved for experienced gardeners! All it takes is knowing your sowing calendar and choosing the right varieties. In this guide, discover the month-by-month sowing calendar, the best varieties for each season, and all the practical steps to harvest fresh lettuce from April right up to the first snow — whether in the vegetable garden or on the balcony!
Sowing lettuce: the 2 mistakes to avoid
Every spring, it's the same story. You sow your lettuce with enthusiasm, and three weeks later you find yourself with fifteen heads ready to harvest all at once. You give some to the neighbours, eat it at every meal, and the last ones bolt before you've even had the chance to harvest them…
A head lettuce is indeed at its best when eaten within 7 to 10 days. After that, it starts to bolt: the stem lengthens, the leaves turn bitter, and the plant is no longer pleasant to eat. In other words, if you sow 20 seeds on the same day, you'll harvest around twenty lettuces over the same period — and then nothing afterwards. It becomes hard to eat it all, even if you have it at every meal!
The other common mistake is choosing only one variety. Some lettuces are ideal for the cool spring, others withstand the heat of July, while others still survive the first frosts. To spread out your harvests, it's essential to rely on several varieties! And this also lets you discover new flavours along the way.
The principle of rotational sowing: sow little, sow often
Staggering your lettuce harvests isn't complicated at all. Simply sow 10 to 12 seeds every two weeks, rather than sowing all the seeds of a single variety at once.
If your household eats about 8 lettuces per fortnight, this sowing rhythm covers your needs exactly! Each new row takes over from the previous one just as you finish harvesting it. This way, you avoid both surplus and waste.
The month-by-month sowing calendar for complete self-sufficiency
February–March: the first spring lettuces
At the start of the year, begin your first sowings under cover for spring salads, such as the Batavia ‘Reine des Glaces’ or ‘Wonder of the Four Seasons’. Ideal for early harvests, they'll give you some crisp greens as early as April-May. After transplanting, you can still protect them from frost with a winter fleece or a small tunnel cloche, especially at higher altitudes.
April–May: choosing heat-resistant varieties
From spring onwards, turn to varieties that are more resistant to bolting and heat. You could, for example, opt for the delicious oak-leaf lettuce 'Parinice' or 'Summer of Kagran'.
June–July: planning ahead for autumn
In the height of summer, while you're harvesting your lettuce, it's already time to think about autumn. This is also the ideal period to introduce colourful, decorative varieties that offer a change from the green spring lettuces. For example, 'Lollo Rossa' develops curly, red-burgundy leaves. Iceberg lettuce, meanwhile, allows for extended harvests, which proves handy for autumn.
August–September: sowing varieties to harvest under snow
In late summer and into early autumn, winter lettuces take over. Lamb's lettuce (corn salad), in particular, holds up rather well against damp, frost and even snow. This way, you'll have some greens throughout the cold season. And if you want to extend your harvests, simply cover your plants with a winter fleece!
Which variety for which season: the Zollinger Bio comparison
To help you choose among the Zollinger Bio varieties suited to each season, here's a comparison of the lettuces and salad greens to favour, from spring through to winter.
Sowing period | February – April | April – July | June – July | August – September | Extended: March to September |
Harvest period | from April | from May | from August | from December | May to October |
Featured varieties | Batavia 'Reine des Glaces', Winter Lettuce 'Curly from Changins' | Head lettuce 'Summer of Kagran', Oak-leaf lettuce 'Parinice', Batavia 'Unikum', Head lettuce 'Deer tongue' | Oak-leaf lettuce 'Lollo Rossa', Oak-leaf lettuce 'Rossino', Iceberg lettuce | Corn salad 'Vit', Corn salad 'Coquilles de Louviers' | Oak-leaf lettuce 'Poschiavo', Cut-and-come-again lettuce 'From Twann', Leaf lettuce Zollinger |
Choosing the right lettuce varieties for the balcony
Even with just a windowsill or a balcony, you can harvest your own salad greens! Some of the most productive varieties from the vegetable garden thrive very well in containers. Thanks to mesclun mixes and cut-and-come-again salads, you can enjoy fresh lettuce leaves from spring right through to autumn! Rich in flavour and vitamins, they add a touch of zest to your meals.
Mesclun and cut-and-come-again salads: for quick harvests
A classic head lettuce needs 50 to 60 days to form a head. It takes up space in the vegetable garden for two months, and you then harvest it all at once. In a pot or planter, this isn't the most efficient format.
Mesclun mixes and cut-and-come-again salads work differently. You don't harvest the whole plant: you cut the leaves 3-5 cm above the ground, which encourages the plant to produce new shoots. A single sowing thus gives you two, even three successive harvests! And the first one comes in under four weeks.
This is exactly what you sometimes find in the supermarket under the name "mesclun", "baby leaves" or "salad shoots". You can do the same thing at home, with organic varieties you've chosen yourself, for a more economical price.
"Leaf lettuce are a great way to introduce children to the vegetable garden. Results come quickly: within a week, the first leaves are already showing, and it doesn't take a month before they can taste what they sowed themselves. There's something different about your relationship with food once you've seen the seed become a leaf."
Setting up a container for cut-and-come-again salads
You don't need any specialised equipment. A container at least 20 cm deep, some all-purpose potting compost, and you're ready to go!
Our tips for successfully growing lettuce in a container:
- Avoid full south-facing exposure in July-August. Lettuces hate excessive heat, which speeds up bolting and makes the leaves bitter. Favour a spot that's partly shaded in the afternoon. The advantage of a container: you can move it depending on the sun exposure.
- Water regularly but without overdoing it. In containers, the compost dries out faster than in open ground, especially when it's windy. A small daily watering in summer and every other day in spring is enough.
- To support your lettuces' growth, you can enrich the soil with a vegetable fertiliser. It will provide the main nutrients needed for the healthy development of lettuces and mesclun mixes.
By staggering your lettuce sowings and choosing varieties suited to the season, you'll be able to enjoy fresh salad greens all year round. If you don't have a vegetable garden, you can easily grow your lettuce in a container instead.
Ready to get started? All the varieties mentioned in this guide are available in our online shop, as certified organic seeds.
Discover our organic lettuce seeds
Frequently asked questions about lettuce
In open ground and without protection, the season runs from March to September in most regions. Outside this window, temperatures that are too low (below 5°C) block germination, and frost damages young plants. The one exception is lamb's lettuce (corn salad), which tolerates snow and can be sown until September for a winter harvest in open ground.
To extend the harvest season, there are two options: start spring sowings under cover as early as February, and cover autumn sowings with a winter fleece from October onwards.
A head lettuce forms a compact head, harvested whole and all at once, after 50 to 60 days. Once cut, the plant doesn't grow back.
A cut-and-come-again lettuce (oak-leaf, mesclun) is harvested leaf by leaf, by cutting regularly 3-5 cm above the ground. The plant regrows and gives you two to three successive harvests from the same sowing. The time to first harvest is shorter (25 to 40 days), but each harvest is smaller in volume.
Bolting is the natural reproductive process of lettuce. The stem lengthens and the leaves become more bitter, making it less pleasant to eat. Certain factors can speed up bolting, such as heat (temperatures above 25°C for extended periods), insufficient watering in summer, or choosing a variety unsuited to the season.
A head lettuce keeps for 3 to 5 days in the fridge, wrapped in a damp tea towel or in a storage bag. The key is not to wash it before storing it, as moisture speeds up the breakdown of the leaves.
For cut-and-come-again lettuces (mesclun, oak-leaf), a simpler alternative is to harvest only what you need and let the rest keep growing. Lettuce keeps better on the plant than once it's been cut.
How to harvest lettuce all year round in your garden