John Savage wrote
Rod Speed writes

None of them have done much except the icebergs.
They havent died, just havent done much growth wise.

You need good soil with heaps of rotted manure for leafy vegetables.
Unimproved soil will see them just sit and stagnate, at best, before
dying or going to seed. Nitrogen-rich soil is an absolute necessity.

The first two batches of cos and mignonettes did fine, planted in spring.

In summer, hold off planting out seedlings until the weather forecast
is for a couple of cool, showery days. Plant in the cool near
evening, and provide each seedling with a couple of sprigs of fern
(or twigs off any shrub with small shady leaves), to protect the
seedlings when the sun comes out. If they at any stage lie flat on
the ground, you have lost them. Water well immediately, and 4 or 5
times daily after that while they get established. If they at any
time wilt, you have lost out. Try and plant out so each carries its
own cube of potting mix, to avoid disturbing the roots.

Yeah, I have always done that.

Obviously, it's the roots that are responsible for the uptake of water.

In summer, the hearting lettuce easily get sunburnt where
part turns white or brown. The small, quick-growing leafy
varieties are to be recommended for home gardeners.

Watering once a day is way too infrequent;

Yeah, I have changed to twice now.

three times in hot weather at least,

I'm currently finding that twice a day keeps the soil moist.

with sprinklers during the hottest part of the day. If they at
any time wilt, you have lost out: they will never reach their best.

My father used to grow and sell the big hearting type, Great Lakes
I think they were. They take too long to mature for my liking.

I only ever grew Buttercrunch. They were SUPPOSED to be a cool weather
variety, but they seemed to love summer provided I kept the water up
to them. Can't say I've seen those in the seed merchants for a long time.

You can get them from some of the online seed operations.

They don't heart, so I could pick a few outside leaves off as desired.

Yeah, thats what I want most of the lettuce for, I mostly use those
on open sandwitches, the dome of the fresh loaf of bread that I do
every 4 days and eat with salami, relish and some lettuce leaves on.

I prefer the iceberg style lettuce for cutting a wedge
of the heart when eating pizza and quiche etc.

No one has mentioned birds. Sparrows love lettuce,
and will devour them right to ground level.

Yeah, thats what happened with the only batch of iceberg seeds
that germinated, because I didnt keep the soil wet enough.

I've since gone for bird netting because the blackbirds were
getting half the strawberrys. I do get lots of sparrows.

Fashion a piece of shade cloth right and it should
serve the two functions: sun block and bird protection.

Just trying the shade cloth now on the Lettuce Combo's.

Indian Mynahs are also on my list of suspects.

The fella who flogged strawberrys at the sunday market
said that the blackbirds loved his strawberrys and thats
what the net says too. I certainly have some of those.

Havent noticed any Indian Mynahs.

And need I draw attention to slugs and snails?

I havent seen any slugs at all yet. Have seen just two
snails which I just picked up and chucked away.

(Just don't kill the giant leopard slugs; these
guys are carnivorous and eat the pesky ones.)

Havent seen any of those.

They get plenty of water, once a day from one of those
soaker hoses that sort of weep water rather than spray it.

That's not "plenty".

Yeah, realised that latter.

You'll be lucky if they even hang on to life at that infrequent rate.

None of them have died, just dont do anything.

The second batch of mignonettes have now gone to seed without providing
any edible leaves, no more than 200mm tall and not that much leaf.

The iceberbs have gone to seed now too. They never did that well.

Three times, or you're not serious.

Why more than two if the dirt stays visibly moist on the surface ?

I didnt mention previously that when I water them I do end up with standing
water on the surface, which soaks in pretty quick once I turn the tap off.

The evaporation from lettuce leaves is extreme.

Is it just that they dont like the very hot weather ?

Sure is. And it causes them to bolt to seed.

Yeah, half of them have gone to seed now.

Can you try growing them in pots, so that you can move
them around to be in shade during midday and afternoon?

Yes, and I will try that now.

For "always fresh" leaves you can buy a hydroponic lettuce from the
supermarket, then sit it in a bowl of water near a bright window and
pick off 3 or 4 leaves each day. Could even try planting it in wet
soil to see whether it won't grow a bit more while you're harvesting.

Didnt think of that, I'll try that. None of them in my supermarkets
have any roots tho, they are always cut off flush with the icebergs.

Havent been buying the non icebergs, have to have a closer look at those.