Vegetable / Cool season
Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce
Cut-and-come-again salad rows, balcony boxes, and spring/fall beds.
Tender, mild, light green leaves.
Seed spacing and maturity
- Days to maturity
- 45
- Germination temperature
- 45-75F
- Seed depth
- 0.125 inches
- Spacing
- 8 inches
- Row spacing
- 12 inches
- Start method
- Either
Frost-date timing
- Indoor start
- 4 weeks before last frost
- Direct sow
- 28 days before last frost
- Transplant
- 14 days before last frost
- Fall planting
- 8 weeks before first frost
- Succession interval
- repeat every 14 days
Action plan
- Can I plant this now?
- Use your local last-frost, first-frost, and soil-temperature checks before treating this crop as plantable today.
- Start indoors or direct sow?
- Direct sow or transplant depending on your soil warmth, bed readiness, and frost-risk plan.
- How much space?
- 8 inches in-row spacing, 12 inches between rows, and 0.125 inch seed depth.
- Best companions?
- Use crop-family rotation first, then pair with compatible timing, spacing, and canopy size rather than relying on a simple companion chart.
- Common failure modes?
- Heat and drought make lettuce bitter and quick to bolt. Frequent light watering keeps leaves mild. Loose, fertile soil with even moisture.
Is it still worth sowing this year?
Every region this site covers (Texas, North Florida, Central Maryland, New York City and York County, PA) publishes a leaf lettuce planting window, so the answer for this variety is already dated. No other region is covered yet.
- The Texas leaf lettuce window, measured against first frost AgriLife lists leaf lettuce for Texas (AgriLife Region III); the page measures that window against this variety's 45 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
- How much frost runway Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce has left in North Florida UF/IFAS lists leaf lettuce for North Florida; the page measures that window against this variety's 45 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
- The Central Maryland leaf lettuce window, measured against first frost UMD Extension lists leaf lettuce for Central Maryland; the page measures that window against this variety's 45 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
- How much frost runway Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce has left in New York City Cornell CCE lists leaf lettuce for the New York City area; the page measures that window against this variety's 45 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
- The York County, PA leaf lettuce window, measured against first frost Penn State Extension lists leaf lettuce for York County, Pennsylvania; the page measures that window against this variety's 45 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Frequent light watering keeps leaves mild.
- Soil
- Loose, fertile soil with even moisture.
- Watch
- Heat and drought make lettuce bitter and quick to bolt.
- quick
- salad
- succession
- shade-tolerant
Browse context
- Vegetable Catalog Category collection
- Aster Family Rotation and family context
- Cool Season Seeds Season collection
- Either Seeds Start-method collection
- Container-Friendly Seeds Practical trait collection
- Beginner-Friendly Seeds Practical trait collection
- Succession Sowing Seeds Practical trait collection
- Quick-Maturity Seeds Practical trait collection
- Fall-Planting Seeds Practical trait collection
- Part-Shade-Tolerant Seeds Practical trait collection
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Source: CSU vegetable planting guide