We grow the summer crisp/batavia/french crisp lettuce nearly year around in the hot and the cold, in high tunnels and outside. We finished up our last plantings in mid July. It was getting really hot and I was picking and selling tomatoes faster than lettuce, so we quit til September. We regularly had highs in the mid 90's. We just water it every day and two years ago we used misters to keep the patch cool. Shade cloth would have worked too, but I didn't want to go to the added expense.

Muir is the most heat tolerant. Magenta also handled the heat well. The red Cherokee got bitter faster, but we were still picking and selling it into July.

This was Muir from last year. They closely resembled a ballerina tutu.

Here is our winter plantings, plus a little dill right in front of the camera. 5 to 6 rows per bed, spaced every 8 inches. We spread out our plantings from mid to late September- November. We harvested this year from November- February. All Summer crisp lettuce. There maybe some more winter hardy, but my customers know what they like and if I can grow it, they will buy it.

I like the red butterhead lettuce...Skyphos....a cross between leaf and head lettuce

When lettuces start to go bitter (bleed white "sap" when picked) that soaking the leaves in cold water in the fridge helps keep them edible a while longer.

I know all taste buds are different, but I love the different romaines (some nameless purple variety I bought years ago that reseeds itself constantly in my garden is my favorite). I haven't noticed a bitterness issue, even when they do start to bolt.

You could always pick up a couple of mixed lettuce seed packets or flats and experiment a little the next time you grow lettuce. He might end up liking something he never would have tried.

Agree with vgkg that picking in the am, soak in cold water then refrigerate, and eat in pm, will take a lot of bitterness out. Also, use a tsp. of maple syrup in your salad dressing makes a nice sweet/bitter taste combo.

I accidentally bought iceberg starts this spring, and have been amazed at how nice they are turning out -- nothing like the grocery store heads. Nice dark green large outer leaves that I'm trimming off and eating, good flavor. (I normally grow leaf lettuce from seed, and this was an impulse buy, and a nice surprise.) So maybe don't give up on making the hubby happy by growing some iceberg along with the other suggestions from this thread?

Katie, Buttercrunch and bibb are a sweeter lettuce than black seeded simpson. Grows best as a fall crop in our climate.

Agree with Wayne and grandad. Try a butterhead type. They taste great and are just as easy to grow as leaf lettuce.

Rodney

I think I'll try a little bit of everything come fall. Thanks for all the suggestions. He has liked Boston Bibb when I've bought it from the grocery store, so that's maybe a good place to start, but now that I think about it I don't have a ton that I want to really grow this fall so maybe I'll just pick a bunch of varieties and see what he likes and what I don't kill! Thanks for the suggestion to buy some transplants so he can try them out I would have never thought of that :)

Katie, I purchase seeds, sprinkle a few on the row, then transplant when the plants get 2 or 3 inches tall. I repeat the process in about 3 weeks. I usually have more plants than space to put them. One pack of seeds lasts about 3 years (or so) when kept in a jar in our outside refrig.

I start my lettuce in plug trays about 3 weeks before transplanting outside. 2 seeds per cell and they sprout in about 2-3 days then I thin to one plant per cell at about one week. Begin hardening off at around day 12. Transplanting from plug trays is very easy as you can just pull the plant out by the leaves with the root ball and stick it in the hole. I am growing Little Gem baby romaine, Nevada Batavia, Jericho Romaine, and Red Velvet. Most heading type lettuces are ready to pick in 50-60 days.

I like New Red Fire -- crisp ruffled leaves tinged with red. It's very slow to bolt and tastes sweet even when you get a little white milk in the stem.

Any lettuce harvested as micro greens can be sweet. You can do that in a little Rubbermaid tub or pot.