I just picked some fresh lettuce for dinner and

[jillan]

it's bitter.

Anyone know why?

My mescul is yummy, spicy. But the regular lettuce is bitter.
yuck!

:(

[Gato Moteado]

1. do you live in a hot climate?

most lettuce turns bitter in a hot climate. there are some varieties avalable that won't get bitter.

[jillan]

2. Bingo! I live in Az.

Thanks for that info.

Dangit tho. My lettuce is growning like weeds :(

[Nicole]

3. You might be able to fix it

If you wash & chill lettuce for a day or two the bitterness goes away sometimes.

I'm chilling bibb lettuce for tomorrow because it was too bitter to eat today. The romaine was delicious though.

[jillan]

7. I'll try that - thx!

[Gato Moteado]

5. well, i don't think you can change the climate there....so.....

....the best bet is to get some of the heat tolerant varieties.

there's a company called seeds of change. they sell organically produced seeds for a multitude of delicious and hard to find fruits and vegetables and also rare and hard to find ornamental flowers. they have about 44 varieties of lettuce alone. here's a heat tolerant one that i tried...what little the animals didn't get first, i ate and thought it was very good:

http://www.seedsofchange.com/garden_center/product_details.asp?item_no=S11114

here's their home page:

http://www.seedsofchange.com/default.asp

i highly recommend buying seeds from this company. they're a bit more expensive but the germination rate is always high and the quality of the vegetables and flowers is unmatched.

[jillan]

8. Just bookmarked that page. Thx!

[bhikkhu]

4. Shade fabric to keep a bit of the sun off, and watering or misting to cool

They might work. When lettuce gets too hot it wants to bolt (go to seed), then its taste is bitter.

I have bunches of lettuce going myself but the climate here is still reasonably cool, until July probably. Arizona would be difficult without some planning to replicate a cooler environment.

[jillan]

6. I planted my shade about 2 weeks ago.

Shade fabric on top, reed fencing around the sides.

Hmmm... I guess the time to plant lettuce in Az is in the fall.
(first year gardener, learning as I go)