Get the all star mix from johnnys selected seeds. fantastic stuff. holds up to the heat amazingly well , nice colors and good crunch for a loose lettuce. Every one I gave it to loved it.

Well, I grow the "Tango" out of that All Star Mix. I have planted Johnny's Wildfire Mix for awhile.

A "little crunchier" ? Maybe Buttercrunch would appeal to you. That lettuce has been in my garden since the '70's.

I discovered Nevada Summer Crisp (Batavian) a couple of years ago. It was a real disappointment this spring that last year's seed didn't germinate . . .

Steve

I love romaine, but I like a mix also. I usually get a 6 pak of mesclun mix, then plant some romaine for my base salad.
I saw some heat resistant romaine at Bakers seed the other day. I think I'll try some. NT

I am growing Romaine, Black Seeded Simpson, a mix and Mesclun.

Next yr I plan to grow the first 2 above and a red leaf of some sort and I want to try Buttercrunch.

Romaine seems to be the most productive, as far as easily getting the most crunchy edible lettuce to eat. Easiest to clean. Tastes good before the heat comes.

Buttercrunch is really nice, nicest quality.

Red Sails is very easy to grow and productive. IMO not all that much difference in leaf lettuces taste wise.

They all taste bad after the end of May in my experience, summer and fall lettuce isn't worth the bother.

My two favorites are both romaine types with crunchy leaves. Little Gem and Jericho. Both taste good and are slow to bolt.
Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden

My favorite is Nevada. Big, attractive loose heads. Thick substance. I have yet to see one bolt, even after holding in the garden for a long time.

Romaine is nice with a different taste and texture. I expect to grow that as well next year. Jericho sounds like a good one.

I have lots of a lettuce mix just now and don't care for the thinness of the leaves. I like something more substantial, like Nevada or a Romaine.

Jim

Any of the cos (Romaine) types would probably suite you. If you like color, try Speckled Trout. It's my favorite- green with red flecking all over the leaves.

I usually buy the Pinetree Lettuce Mix and sow that. It works out really well as I have a nice colorful mix for salads, and there are always a few types that last longer into the summer than the rest of them, with no guesswork or buying multiple packs of seeds. I also buy some European mesclun mix and mix that in for a bit of variety with endive, rachicchio, arugula etc.

I love the taste of Buttercrunch, but those who haven't tried it should know that it's not really very crunchy. At least not if you're going by a romaine standard of crunch. I think those (romaine) may be one of your best options for crunchy.

I always plant Red Sails, Black Seeded Simpson, Romaine and Oakleaf. This year I added green Deer Tongue and also the red variety. The green DT didn't germinate well but the red DT came along nicely and I should be picking more of it. I planted it several weeks after the others.

Not exactly lettuce, but I usually plant a row of Endive and also 4 - 6 Radiccio plants. The Endive and Black Seeded have bolted now and the Radiccio hasn't formed heads yet. Lot of leaves of the Rad.this year but not much folding onto itself as in seasons past.

If left in the ground, the Endive will eventually produce a beautiful blue flower much like Chicory (I believe they are related).

I killed spinach and mescaline mix this year. I think in the late fall I may plant some romain and then next spring try the spinach again. I really prefer spinach as my salad base.

I am not going to buy mesclun mix anymore. Seems they load it up with arugula seed and thats what I end up mostly with. There is a limit to how much arugula you can eat.

I agree with kr222.....I plant Little Gem romaine.Grows fast and makes solid tight heads with lots of crisp inner leaves.It isn't large,but it doesn't bolt and is very good in taste.

Last year I planted a mesculin mix. I didn't like it, a lot of it seemed bitter and it was quick to bolt. In addition, the leaves were hard to get all the dirt off of and turned mushy if you washed them too much.

This year I planted buttercrunch using pelleted seed. The pelleted seed made it easy to space properly without needing to thin. I got good germination and buttercrunch forms these nice loose heads. Even with the hot weather, it has not bolted or turned bitter. It is easy to clean because only the outer leaves had a little dirt on them. The lettuce also keeps in the fridge very well. I just separated the heads into individual leaves, washed them, and put them in a plastic bowl with a paper towel to absorb the water. It has been over a week and it just as good as the day I harvested it. It isn't super crunchy though, the base of each leaf is crunchy, but that is it.
Here is what my lettuce looked like (a few heads were re-seeded, so they are smaller), this was about 1 week before I started harvesting it:
{{gwi:75375}}

I've got

1 Lollo Bianco
1 Lollo Rosso (deceased)
6 Lambs Lettuce
3 Baby GEM
3 Yellow Australian
3 Red Australian
6 Perpetual Spinich
Many Rocket plants (arugula)

Enough for me and the wife 2 times a week :)

These two are great for warmer weather: 'marvelle de quat saisons': a beautiful red and green bibb type, and 'freckles' (might be the same as lantanascape's 'speckled trout').
'Webb's wonderful' has 'iceberg'-like crunch, but heaps of flavour. Of course, it's probably called something else in the U.S.!