Cool-season salad: butterhead ‘Bibb Bambi’, ‘Iceberg Crispino’, ‘Red Oak Leaf’, a gourmet blend and arugula. Plant October through February in successions; harvest outer leaves and keep the bed going until April.
From October to April, Queen Creek grows lettuce as well as anywhere in the country — cool nights, bright days, no slugs to speak of, and greens that are sweeter than the summer lettuce anyone else grows. The trick is succession: a few plants every three weeks, harvested by the outer leaves, so there is always a young planting coming on when the older one bolts. By late April the heat turns it bitter and the season ends until fall.
We commonly carry five: ‘Bibb Bambi’ butterhead, ‘Iceberg Crispino’, ‘Red Oak Leaf’, a ‘Gourmet Salad Blend’ and organic arugula. Afternoon shade extends the season at both ends. The rest of the edible benches are on our Herbs & Vegetables page.
These are the lettuce varieties we commonly carry. Availability changes week to week and season to season, so call (480) 987-3308 or stop in to see what’s on the bench today.
Peppery rocket for salads and pizza; ready in 30 days and bolting soon after, so plant every three weeks. Flowers are edible.
A compact Bibb butterhead with soft, buttery, folded leaves in small heads — one head per person. About 50 days; cut whole or harvest outer leaves.
A mix of loose-leaf lettuces in greens and reds for cut-and-come-again salads from a single planting.
A heat-tolerant iceberg that forms firm, crisp heads more reliably than older types in a mild climate. Needs the full cool season — plant by December.
Loose-leaf lettuce with deeply lobed burgundy-red leaves; tender, slow to bolt, and harvested a leaf at a time for months. The best cut-and-come-again choice.
Looking for one that isn’t listed? Ask — we can usually suggest a close match or tell you when it tends to come around.
The care tag was written somewhere else. This is the Queen Creek version.
Set out young plants from early October (with shade cloth while afternoons exceed 90°F) through February, planting a few every three weeks. Heading types — iceberg and Bibb — need to be in by December to head before spring. Loose-leaf and arugula can go in until early March for a short harvest. Lettuce bolts bitter once afternoons pass the low 80s in April.
Loose, rich soil with compost, or a good potting mix in wide containers and window boxes — lettuce is shallow-rooted. Keep it evenly moist: every day or two in October, every three days in winter, on drip or a gentle overhead spray in the morning. Drought turns it bitter fast.
A balanced or fish-emulsion fertilizer every two to three weeks; lettuce grows fast and wants nitrogen. Pale, slow plants are hungry.
Full sun through winter; afternoon shade in October and again from March extends the season by weeks at each end. A bed on the east side of taller crops, or under 30 percent shade cloth, is ideal in the shoulder months.
Loose-leaf and arugula: pick the outer leaves from the time the plant is four inches tall and it keeps producing for two months. Butterhead: cut the whole head at the base or take outer leaves. Iceberg: cut when the head is firm. Harvest in the morning when leaves are crisp. Pull any plant that sends up a central stalk.
Aphids in warm spells — hose them off or soak leaves in salt water. Birds peck seedlings; a strip of row cover or bird netting for the first two weeks. Slugs and snails after rain, rarely a problem here. Lettuce is non-toxic to pets.
Photo of the bed, how much sun it gets and what you want to eat — we’ll match varieties and planting dates to it. Advice is free.
We stock raised-bed and vegetable planting mix, compost and steer manure by the bag or the yard, organic vegetable fertilizers, tomato cages and stakes, shade cloth for the May-to-September stretch, frost cloth for January, and drip fittings. The pottery yard has half-barrels and 15-gallon pots for patio vegetables, and soil and mulch is sold by the bag or by the yard.
October through February, a few plants every three weeks. Heading types by December. It bolts in April heat.
Heat or drought. Lettuce turns bitter as it prepares to bolt, and a dry spell speeds it. Harvest in the morning, keep the soil moist, and give afternoon shade in the warm months.
Pick the outer leaves and leave the center; loose-leaf types produce for two months this way. Heading types are cut once.
Every day or two in October, every three days in winter, in the morning. It is shallow-rooted and wilts fast.
Very well — wide, shallow containers and window boxes with potting mix, on a patio with morning sun. Water more often than beds.
Usually birds. Cover new plantings with row cover or netting for two weeks until they are established.
Lettuce live on the herb and vegetable benches; any staff member can point you to them. Locally owned, and a short drive from San Tan Valley, Gilbert, Chandler and Mesa.