Tom Thumb is a Butterhead lettuce variety with small, compact heads with deliciously and tender leaves. This little variety of the very popular and well-known Butterhead lettuce doesn't need much space. Each head needs approx. 15 cm. This variety can be grown in small vegetable gardens, in large flowercontainers, in Square Feet gardens and in small gardens.
Use Tom Thumb in salads, soups, stir-fries, stews, casseroles, in sandwiches and as a snack or party treat. Non hardy annual.
Indoor sowing: February - March
Outdoor sowing: May - July
Germination: 7 - 10 days
Germination temp.: 15 - 18 °C
Sowing depth: ½ cm
Plant distance: 20 - 30 cm
Plant position: sunny - half shade
Days till harvest: 55 - 85
Sow indoors from February - March. Sow in trays filled with moist potting soil. Sow shallow and sparsley. Cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil, because lettuce is a lightgerminator. Keep the soil moist. Keep the temperature as even as possible and don't let the temperature drop during the night. Transplant the seedlings to seperate pots approx. 3 - 4 weeks after germination. Harden the plants of in the beginning of May for 10 - 14 days by putting them outside during the day of by putting them in a cold frame. Tranpslant them outdoors on a sunny plot with some half shade from the middle of May, when there's no longer any danger of nightfrosts. Put the plants 20 - 30 cm apart, to allow for the forming of the heads.
Sow outdoors from May on, when there's no longer any danger of nightfrosts. Sow in rows approx. 20 - 30 cm apart. Sow every 20 cm 3 seeds per hole. Cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil. Keep moist and weedfree. Thin the seedlings after 3 - 4 weeks, when they're large enough to handle, to 1 strongest per hole. The thinnend plants can be replanted or used in a salad.
Sow every 3 weeks a little amount of seeds to keep a continious harvest of fresh lettuce. Keep the soil moist during drought. Snails, slugs, aphids, rabbits and other pest can be a treat for your lettuce. Harvest regularly. Lettuce can be kept fresh in the crisper of your fridge.
