Lettuce Butterhead Marvel Organic Seed
Lactuca - sativa 

This stunning heirloom lettuce has reddish leaves flaunting cranberry red tips and a greenish heart. You may have trouble deciding whether to grow it out back in the garden or in a container closer to the house where you can watch its beautiful color develop! The 8" to 12" loose heads have excellent flavor and make wonderful salads. You can pick individual leaves any time or harvest the entire plant. If you shear the plants 2" above the ground when they are 10" in diameter, some leaves will re-grow for a continued harvest. When to plant outside: RECOMMENDED. Early spring, 3 to 4 weeks before the average last frost, and successive plantings thereafter every 3 weeks until 2 weeks before the first fall frost. In USDA zone 8 or warmer, it can also be sown in fall for winter harvest. When to start inside: 6 weeks before last spring frost and in summer when soil temperatures are too warm outside to germinate lettuce seed. Special Sowing & Germination Instructions: when thinning lettuce, use the thinnings in salads. It can be planted in rows, but group plantings take up less space and are attractive. Double or triple rows also work. If direct seeding outside in late summer for a fall crop, remember that lettuce seed does not come up well in heat. Cover the seeded area with 2 x 6 boards to keep the soil cool for a few days until seed comes up. For early spring planting, cover soil with clear plastic to warm the soil to 70 degrees (the optimum temperature for lettuce). When seedlings appear, immediately take off the plastic.