Cool-season crop
Lettuce Planting Windows for Spring and Fall
Use local spring and fall freeze references to plan lettuce sowing, transplanting, spacing, maturity, and repeat harvest windows.
Reviewed by Garden By ZIP Editorial Review ·
- Spacing
- 4–12 in
- Seed depth
- 0.125–0.25 in
- Typical maturity
- 45–70 days
Quick answer
Direct-sow lettuce roughly 6–2 weeks before the last spring freeze reference. Transplants can move outside about 4–2 weeks before it. For fall, count back 6–8 weeks from the first fall freeze reference. The planting calendar computes both windows.
Planting methods
Lettuce supports direct sowing, indoor starts, and transplants. Succession sowing can spread harvest, but hot weather may reduce germination and quality.
Spacing, depth, and maturity
Cover seed lightly, about 1/8–1/4 inch. Thin leaf lettuce near 4 inches and give heading types up to 12 inches. Typical maturity is 45–70 days.
Worked local-calendar example
With a last spring freeze reference of April 19, direct sowing falls from early March into early April. If the first fall freeze reference is October 23, fall sowing falls in late August to mid-September. These are example ranges.
Common mistakes
- Burying small seed too deeply.
- Treating one sowing as the entire harvest plan.
- Ignoring summer heat when scheduling fall seed.
Limitations
Cultivar heat tolerance, shade, irrigation, soil temperature, and harvest stage change the useful window. Frost-relative dates are a planning baseline.