15 Easy-to-Grow Lettuce Varieties for Beginner Gardeners
Lettuce is the finest leafy green for first-time gardeners to grow! It’s quick to sprout, easy to cultivate, and delicious to taste. With five main types, there’s sure to be an option for you and your garden. Seasoned grower Jerad Bryant shares 15 best-performing lettuce varieties you should plant this year.
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Leafy greens are perfect for tucking into tight spaces in the garden. They don’t need much space, as their leafy rosettes are relatively compact and short. Crops like spinach, mâche, and endive are like lettuce, sprouting edible foliage under chilly weather conditions. They provide fresh greens for salads, smoothies, and fresh plates.
We recommend starting with lettuce because it matures quickly after germinating and is easy to grow. Plant it from spring through fall in cold climates and from fall through spring in warm ones. The crop prefers consistent moisture, rich soil, and mild temperatures.
In areas with warm, sunny summers, consider growing lettuce in partial shade rather than full sun. The shady conditions help protect the soil, trapping moisture and keeping the roots cool.
No matter how you grow this veggie, you’ll want to start with great-tasting cultivars you love eating. Try one of these 15 easy-to-grow lettuce varieties that are hardy and forgiving in the beginner’s garden.
Butterhead (Boston or Bibb)
Butterhead, or Boston lettuce, sprouts rosettes full of lush, buttery leaves. They’re not as crunchy as iceberg or romaine lettuces, though they’re more tender and flavorful. The lush, soft foliage works well in salads, wraps, and fresh dishes.
‘Buttercrunch’
‘Buttercrunch’ has all of its features in its name. Its leaves are buttery and slightly crunchy. The lime green foliage turns a light yellow in the plant’s interior, creating a pleasing display that works well in veggie or ornamental gardens.
Harvest this variety by cutting off a mature head for a single-serve salad, or pick the outer leaves as needed for individual recipes. When harvesting, leave more than half of the plant so it has enough foliage to photosynthesize and grow more leaves.
‘Marvel of Four Seasons’
An old heirloom type from the 1800s, ‘Marvel of Four Seasons’ is a red butterhead that sprouts lush, spoon-like leaves. They form foot-wide heads, with foliage that crinkles and forms a circular pattern like a freshly opened rose blossom.
‘Marvel of Four Seasons’ holds up well to drought, lasting many days before bolting if the soil is moist and cool. They may bolt in dry soil if the weather rapidly warms.
‘Nancy’
‘Nancy’ is like ‘Buttercrunch,’ but bigger! Its heads form tight-wrapped balls of buttery leaves at their centers. You may pick the outer green leaves for fresh eating, or wait for the plants to mature fully before harvesting them whole.
‘Nancy’ prefers cool, moist conditions while it matures. Plant it in the fall or spring in cold climates and in the fall or winter in mild ones.
Crisphead (Iceberg)
Iceberg lettuce, also known as crisphead, is like the opposite of butterhead. Crisphead varieties form large balls of crunchy leaves, similar to cabbage. They’re milder-tasting than butterhead types. Icebergs are ideal sandwich or salad-making lettuces, as their crunch holds up well for a few days after harvest.
‘Crispino’
‘Crispino’ is a juicy iceberg lettuce with a satisfying crunch. It forms whitish heads full of mild-tasting leaves. The outer foliage is a bright green color that turns darker the more light it receives.
Though ‘Crispino’ handles high humidity and heat well, it’ll form the best crop during cool, moist weather. Plant seeds outdoors two weeks before your last average frost date or indoors in pots four to six weeks before the date.
‘Great Lakes 118’
‘Great Lakes 118’ is an improved variety of ‘Great Lakes.’ This crisphead cultivar forms large, round, and juicy heads despite warm weather and less-than-desirable conditions.
Though large mature crops are the main reason to cultivate this variety, the plants also sprout delicious baby greens. Sow seeds thickly in the garden and thin the seedlings for baby greens. Then, leave a few seedlings remaining to mature into full-size plants.
‘Ice Queen’
‘Ice Queen’ delights gardeners with frilly, outer foliage and mild, juicy interiors. It forms a head like other icebergs, though it also sprouts loose leaves like summer crips varieties. You may harvest its outer, frilly leaves while you wait for the head to form.
As its name implies, ‘Ice Queen’ is frost tolerant, though it’s also heat–tolerant and bolt–resistant! Plant this easy-to-grow lettuce variety in the cool seasons, and let it mature as the weather warms.
Leaf Lettuce
Leaf lettuce doesn’t form a head like the other types; it sprouts loose foliage in rosettes that are great for individual picking. Grow a few leaf lettuce varieties for easy, colorful salads, or choose your favorite for a continuous leafy green supply during the growing season.
‘Prizehead’
‘Prizehead’ grows loose clusters of wrinkly leaves with green centers and maroon margins. They’re perfect for fresh eating in salads, smoothies, or burgers. Their sweet, tender crispiness blends well in many dishes.
‘Prizehead’ is an awesome beginner lettuce variety to start growing, as it doesn’t need continuous cool temperatures to form heads like the other cultivars. It’s slow to bolt and heat-tolerant, working well in a wide range of gardens.
‘Salad Bowl Blend’
‘Salad Bowl Blend’ is a longtime favorite of many gardeners. It contains two prize-winning varieties: ‘Red Salad Bowl’ and ‘Green Salad Bowl.’ Plant the blend throughout your veggie garden to add an ornamental flair to the site.
This heat-resistant and slow-to-bolt blend is ideal for growing from spring through fall. Mild climate gardeners may plant seeds in fall and winter for a cool-season harvest.
‘Brentwood’
Red, wrinkly, and full of crinkles, ‘Brentwood’ lettuce is a gorgeous cultivar that performs well in poor conditions. The plants sprout loose heads that you may pick individual leaves off of or harvest whole. No matter your harvesting preferences, ‘Brentwood’ will wow you with its heat tolerance and bolt resistance.
Diseases and pests may attack lettuce, so it’s important to start with resistant varieties that hold up well in the garden. ‘Brentwood’ is one such variety; it resists downy mildew, aphids, and Fusarium wilt.
Romaine (Cos)
Romaine, or Cos lettuces, are ideal for Caesar salads and similar preparations. They sprout erect, elongated heads that are taller than they are wide. Find cultivars with green, red, or speckled leaves.
‘Freckles’
‘Freckles’ is a lovely heirloom variety with freckled leaves. The plants are green with maroon spots and grow upright to form a tight head. Use them to decorate flower gardens or plant them amongst other leafy greens like spinach and arugula.
This cultivar is slightly bitter and incredibly crunchy, working well as a colorful base for salads and fresh preparations. Store cut heads in the crisper drawer of your fridge to keep them crisp and turgid.
‘Vivian’
A classic romaine, ‘Vivian’ forms tight heads with upright, frilly green leaves. The ends are tender and thin, while the portions near the midribs are juicy and crunchy.
If the plants fail to form heads, you may harvest the individual leaves to utilize your crop. Another option is to grow romaine types as baby greens, sowing them densely in an open site. Pick the small greens a few weeks after sprouting.
‘Little Gem’
‘Little Gem’ is one of the cutest and easiest romaine lettuce varieties to exist! It forms tight, small heads full of tender foliage. It lacks the bitterness of other varieties and is sweet like a butterhead or summer crisp cultivar.
The heads stay under six inches tall and four feet wide, making them perfect for small, empty spots in the garden. This variety also goes by ‘Sucrine’ and ‘Sugar Cos’ in other countries, though it’s the same plant.
Summer Crisp (Batavia)
Summer crisp, or Batavia lettuce, forms heads like iceberg types do. The heads on these varieties are looser and frillier than icebergs, growing well in hot climates with plenty of sun. They’re crisp like romaine and flavorful like butterheads.
‘Magenta’
Firm, crisp, and juicy, ‘Magenta’ works well anywhere there is full sun in the yard. It sprouts loose, frilly, and shiny heads that are compact and narrow. They tuck in nicely between flowers, perennials, and other vegetables.
Harvest ‘Magenta’ however you’d like to! Pick the baby greens, harvest individual leaves, or cut the whole plant down after it matures. The outer foliage turns shiny red-maroon as it basks under summer sunshine while the lower parts stay bright green.
‘Muir’
‘Muir’ is a heat-tolerant cultivar with frilly, wavy leaves that form dense, nutritious heads over time. The full-size heads take a few weeks to mature, though you can harvest them while they’re still small.
Extra frilly and bright green, this variety holds up well against summer heat and sun. Keep the soil moist to ensure the heads form before bolting occurs.
‘Cherokee’
If you like deep red varieties, ‘Cherokee’ is the perfect summer crisp lettuce for your garden! The plants sprout loose heads with spoon-like leaves that are mild, sweet, and tender, with a slight crunch.
Use ‘Cherokee’ in a Mesclun mix of baby leaf lettuces, or grow a few with ample space so they form full-size heads. Mesclun comes from the Spanish word “mezclar,” meaning “to mix.” Find ‘Cherokee’ in Mesclun seed mixes with other lettuces you may harvest before they mature.
