Guess what you can call me now…The Lettuce Lady!!!! I started 30 some different kinds of lettuces this year. I just transplanted them, well, been working on it for several days now. A bazillion little guys.
Why, do you say? I love lettuce, not the insipid kind you find at the grocery store. There are so many kinds of lettuce out there, romaine, butterhead, mini romaine, batavian, deer tongue, oakleaf, crispheads, loose leaf, and colors – rich red, burgundy, dark green, light green, spotted, speckled, and more.
It is easy to grow although it doesn’t like heat much. Use it as a thriller (centerpiece) or as a filler in containers with plants that like the same conditions, full sun, cooler temps. Pansies, alyssum, lobelia are great companions.
You could work in some heat-loving annuals too. When the lettuce and pansies are done and the heat comes on. replace them with petunias or geraniums or small zinnias such as “Lilliput” for the new “thriller” in the center of the pot. It goes well with alyssum and lobelia. (What doesn’t go with those two? All well-dressed containers should have them!) It’s kind of like succession planting in a pot.
Think about other plants. Parsley goes well. Nasturtiums. You can make your own salad bowl that is edible AND pretty!
What goes better with tomatoes than lettuce? Add bacon, bread, and you have a sandwich. Yummmm.
Notes From The Tomato Lady 
I love using frilly lettuce and parsley in my containers, too. Such vivid colors and varying leaves are available, and they are a quick crop. Nice post!
thank you! Good to hear someone else who is so inclined. I need more greenhouses!
How nice that you grow it as an ornamental too. I did that with red chard. Many years ago, when ornamental grasses were a fad, I grew short stalked grain corn in clumps out front. That did not go over too well with the neighbors. Some of those lettuces are too pretty to not grow as ornamentals. I just do not grow many lettuce through summer because they dislike the warmth and dry air (although it is a bit more humid where my garden will be this year.)
They are ornamental only until I eat them! I can either do a cut and come again or replant with a heat lover like a petunia or another more heat resistant lettuce such as Slo-Bolt. Lettuce is pretty much a spring or fall crop here. Early summer is good too. We usually get about 2 to 3 weeks of horrendously hot weather here and not much humidity…ever. The nice thing about using lettuce in containers is that you can move it around to take advantage of some afternoon shade.