My mini romaine lettuce sometimes bolts before the heads completely head up. It's a race against summer heat and it's hit or miss. I have better luck with the Salanova types that Johnny's seeds sells.

Your best bet is to start them inside about 4 weeks prior to planting the seedlings out 2 or 3 weeks before the average last frost date and provide protection against hard frosts for a month or so. If you can plant them somewhere that will get afternoon shade that can help as the temps go up.

Bibb type lettuces are the closest I can get to what might resemble a "head" here. Too hot too fast here in the east for iceberg heading types.

Thanks! I was guessing it was the heat. It is not a big deal but it sure would be a lot quicker to pick a head then cut individual leaves:)

I grow romaine and other cut and come again type lettuces rather than head lettuces because there are only 2 of us. I get a few different lettuces in my salads and they re-grow! We've had some freezes this year that almost killed some, but they're coming back.

I had an aerogrow thing that I grew lettuces and some herbs in all winter for awhile, but it seems to have pooped out.

Remember, you can root romaine and other cut and come again lettuces in water and plant them!

Pick it when it is good to eat. Maybe think of growing two medium sized plants to pick than picking one large sized plant.

Have you tried Buttercrunch?

Bibb/ butterhead types are the best bet for a "head", and are high quality lettuce. You are not going to get a decent "iceberg" lettuce in Ohio, but you can try for the challenge. Romaine is very easy, not sure what you are expecting.

When do you plant? You want lettuce and spinach planted in April so they grow fast in May. Once you get into June and the heat, the eating quality goes down fast and they bolt fast.

I love buttercrunch it, black simpson and Romaine are most of what I plant. Last coupe years spinach was a disaster - weather I think, cold then hot so very little growth then bolt. Before that I got infestation in leaves, have organic cure if that happens again.

It did not occur to me that head lettuce is 1 harvest, so that is a plus for other kinds. My Romaine keeps coming back after cutting most leaves.

Question, with the 3 I mentioned above can you cut entire plant and it will keep growing? My buddy says yes but I try to leave at least a couple leaves.

I've been growing Black Seeded Simpson for decades. It's considered, by many, as an excellent tasting lettuce, me being one of them. I plant it around St Patrick's day and it comes up slowly depending on how cold an April we have. I've never had it effected by freezing temperatures. As I harvest it I snap off leaves and either drop them in the walkway or put it in the bowl. As it starts to bolt sometime in June for me I snap off the bolt leader and it still tastes good for a little longer period of time.

I never tried cutting the entire plant.

This year I ordered 4 new, to me, varieties all lettuce varieties that were listed as being the best tasting.

I have also snapped off bolt's and it does extend it. I have really delayed basil that way. I learned that trick by basically cutting 95% of a plant when it started to bolt. It came back quit a bit and it was over 2 weeks before it started to bolt again.

For salad greens, we use Sissoo and Malabar spinach, but also a lot of Swiss Chard. Swiss Chard is nice because it usually doesn't bolt, seems not to be bothered much by pests or disease, and is resistant to hard freezes.

I grow mostly Iceberg, Romaine and Bibb types. Once in a blue moon a leaf type. No major problems in early spring. I do start plants in January in a cold frame and transplant after the last freeze.

Romaine and Bib form loose heads but never solid.

Willow

Limestone Bibb

Have you tried planting lettuce as a fall crop going into our usually too-warm early winters? Mine do not usually head, in spring, prolonged heat spikes are typical and spring much too short. But my fall planted, covered crop is wonderfully crisp and crunchier, whether it heads or not.

Best headers for me :

….a little known Burpee seedrack iceberg variety called Igloo.

Sometimes I wonder if Igloo is really a Great Lakes iceburg lettuce or a other more well-known type, under a rebranded name, but I havent found a match or an equal to it, yet. It is sweet and crunchy as leaf or headed.…

…And Anuenue, (Ah-new-ee-new-ee ) , A University of of Hawaii introduction. Its more a crisphead than an iceberg, but it does head reliably for me if I give it enough ground time. It also is my most successful lettuce to germinate in the heat.

Actually, both of these types, planted in shade have stretched out harvest past the end of July in 6b-7a without bitterness.

Concur; Igloo has been an excellent performer for me.

As has Webb's Wonderful

And I am in Z8a Middle Georgia