I think of lettuce as one of those "staple" vegetables. In other words it can be used in a variety of recipes, from salads, to sandwiches.

Because lettuce thrives in cooler temperatures, it is best to grow it in early spring or fall.

Here are some steps you can take to improve the conditions where your lettuce will grow to optimize and increase your harvest.

As stated earlier lettuce is a cooler temperature vegetable. The seeds will germinate best when the temperature of the soil is between 40 to 60 degrees F (4 to 16 C). Once the seeds have germinated they thrive best when the soil temperature is 55 to 65 F (13 to 18 C).

Next, test your soil where you will be planting your lettuce for its pH level. Ideally the pH range of the soil for lettuce should be 6.5 to 7.0. You can pick up a soil testing kit at your local home or garden center or online where testing kits are sold.

Although it varies slightly from variety to variety, spread your lettuce out about eight to twelve inches for optimal growth. Give your lettuce plenty of room to "spread" out has been shown to yield more.

Lettuce requires light to moderate watering and full sun for best yields although lettuce can grow even in partial shade.

As you can see growing lettuce is not all that complicated, but putting in that extra effort to optimize the growing potential will yield more lettuce than you ever thought possible.