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Summertime Lettuce is an open-pollinated heirloom crisphead variety bred to thrive where most lettuces fail: in hot summers when bolting typically ends the season. This non-GMO annual reaches harvest maturity in 65 to 80 days, offering gardeners in warm climates a genuinely reliable way to grow lettuce through the season when cool-season crops would normally surrender to heat. It's a solution to a real gardener's problem, not just another green.
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The defining trait here is genuine heat tolerance paired with strong bolt resistance. Crisphead lettuce notoriously struggles in areas with hot summers and cold winters, but this strain was specifically selected to handle those difficult temperature swings. If your lettuce bolts before you can harvest a proper head, Summertime is worth the space it takes up in your garden.
Summertime Lettuce is grown for fresh salads and as a crisp, cool addition to sandwiches and wraps. The head formation typical of crisphead varieties makes it suited to dishes where you want distinct, snappy leaves rather than loose greens, giving you that textural contrast that transforms a simple sandwich.
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Direct sow seeds into garden soil when conditions allow, spacing them carefully or sowing slightly dense and thinning later.
Harvest when heads feel firm and dense to gentle hand pressure, typically 65 to 80 days after sowing depending on temperatures. Cut the entire head at soil level with a sharp knife, or remove outer leaves individually if you prefer a slower harvest. Pick in early morning when leaves are still crisp and cool from overnight; afternoon heat reduces their crunch.
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“Summertime Lettuce represents the kind of practical plant breeding that matters most to home gardeners. Rather than chasing novelty, breeders developed this strain by selecting for heat tolerance and bolt resistance within crisphead lettuce genetics. It arrived in the modern seed trade as an open-pollinated heirloom, meaning gardeners can save seeds year after year and maintain the variety's heat-loving character.”