I have tried... It is the heat/humidity that does them in. They germinate poorly, look sickly, wilt in the heat and bolt while still small. This is all when under shade.

But you are in a cooler zone.. It may work somewhat for you.. But I give up on the garden in June, and redo it in September. Much more rewarding to grow in fall, winter and and spring..

Lisa

castorp,
i have coming in the mail this offering from ECHO:

Lettuce, Queensland [1441]
Lactuca sativa.

This leaf lettuce is an ECHO favorite. From Australia, it grows extremely well under hot, humid conditions and is slow to bolt. Leaves are numerous and tasty with a yellowish hue. Highly recommended.

http://echobooks.org/product_info.php?products_id=648

i'll give you half the seeds...

Bill,

Interesting you bring this up.

I grow plenty of lettuce which has bolted and gone to seed which I save. A week ago Monday I started some of the seeds indoors and just moved em out yesterday to harden before I try to find a shady spot to plant them and see how they do.

Many lettuce varieties do not germinate in warm weather, thats why I started them indoors.

I will let you know how they do, but, I will be gone for about a week and not able to water them etc, sooo I have high hopes, yet low expectations.

Tony

Thanks to you all for the information. And thanks, Ill, for the offer of the seeds! I'm looking forward to trying this.

Tony, I think I'll try starting them indoors too, and I'm going to grow them in a containers in differnt kinds of shade, see which works best. Let us know how your experiment goes.

Lisa, you may be the voice of Reason here. I think this dry and (relatively) cool weather we're having makes me forget what real summer is like.

Bill