Lettuce May King is an old Heirloom variety and it grows very fast. This very deliciously , tender and sweet flavoured butterhead lettuce variety can be harvested after approx. 60 days. The large heads are dark green with a beautiful red tinge on the edges of the leaves and with a bronze burnish in the hart of the heads. This lettuce is very well suited for an early sowing and harvest because it bolts very easily with warmer weather and with the lenghtening of the days later in the spring. Use this lettuce in salads, salad soup, on sandwiches and a backdrop for Russian salad or potato salad. Harvest this lettuce when the heads are formed from the middle of may till the end of may. Don't postpone the harvest, to prevent the lettuce from bolting. Non hardy annual.
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Indoor sowing: end of february - beginning of march
Germination: 5 - 10 days
Germination temp.: 10 - 18 °C
Sowing depth: ½ cm
Plant distance: 25 - 35 cm
Plant position: sunny
Days till harvest: 60 - 65
Harvest period: middle of - end of may
Sow indoors from the end of february. Sow in seperate pots filled with potting soil or use pots made of peat, these can be planted outdoors with the plants inside when the plants are large enough. Sow 1 or 2 seeds per pot. Cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil, because lettuce is a light germinator. Put the pots in a propagator with lid to retain the moisture. Keep the soil moist, but not to wet to prevent the seeds from rotting. Keep the temperature as even as possible and don't let the temperature drop to much during the nights. Thin the seedlings to 1 strongest per pot after 2 - 3 weeks.
Harden the young plants of in a cold frame from the beginning of april. This takes approx. 10 - 14 days. Put the plants after this period on a sunny plot with water retaining soil outdoors from half april - beginning of may, when there's no longer any danger of nightfrost. Choose a plot with with well fed, but not recently manured soil. Snails, slugs and aphids are a tread for You lettuce plants. This lettuce variety can bolt very easily. Prevent early bolting by watering the plants often and to make sure that the soil never dries out. Give this variety enough space to make large heads because this also prevents early bolting. And harvest the heads not long after they've formed. Approx. 60 days after sowing.
