Take more care with lettuce

OF all the vegetable crops that are grown, I think the beginner looks upon lettuce as the easiest of them to cultivate and this often leads to general bad management. It is very surprising how much trouble this crop can give the beginner, although it is comparatively easy to grow.

What are these failures? The most common, I think, is gluts. In many gardens one sees far too many rows of lettuce that are maturing all at once and which will never be used even after many have been given away to neighbours. Another common failing is the amount of heads that run to seed. This is caused either through overcrowding or by the use of the wrong variety.