Little Gem Lettuce

Nature & Nurture Seeds

Lactuca sativa

$4.49

Pkt(≈300 seeds)
VALUE SIZE: .03 oz (≈780 seeds)
30 days baby, 55 days head. Little Gem is a cross between butterhead and romaine, giving it the unique trait of having romaine’s crunch with the sweetness and small size of a butterhead. Can be grown for baby greens or for heads. Baby leaves can be grown as cut-and-come-again (they grow upright, making them easy to harvest). Harvest as head lettuce and you'll get miniature, 4 - 6” tall romaine heads with a crispy heart. Little Gem is heat tolerant, so it's a good choice for summer lettuce. We first grew it in 2000 and have been very happy with its warm weather performance. Its small size lends itself to container gardening and growing in small spaces. Crisp leaves add welcomed flavor as well as a crisp texture to salads.

In general, lettuce prefers cool weather and will bolt (flower) earlier in hot weather – this lettuce is more heat tolerant. For early head lettuce, start seeds indoors 3/1 at 68° (cover flat with a dome and expose seeds to light). Sow lettuce seeds outside anytime between 3/27 – 6/30. You can try to sow lettuce seeds 7/1-8/1 but lettuce seeds will not germinate when the soil temperature is over 80° - try covering seeds with row cover fabric to keep them cool and moist. Lettuce seeds need light to germinate - plant seeds on the surface of the soil and pat gently with a hand. Keep seeds constantly moist until germination. Days to germination: 2-14 days. Space head lettuce 6.5” apart. For baby lettuce broadcast sow seeds.