Creating a New Veggie Garden and Need Advice

[splinx]

Please let us know what variety of lettuce survives in hot weather as we will all get some

A local seed supplier states these can be grown year round here (summer included):
Lettuce Frisee Atalaia,
Lettuce Batavia Cacimba,
Lettuce Batavia Joaquina,
Lettuce Brava,
Lettuce Cerbiatta,
Lettuce Grand Rapids TBR,
Lettuce Crespa Palmas,
Lettuce Delicious,
Lettuce Hanson,
Lettuce Itapuã Super,
Lettuce Mimosa Prado,
Lettuce Repolhuda Carminia,
Lettuce Simpson Black Seeded

And there are these varieties which can be grown only on winter months:
Lettuce Baba Summer,
Lettuce White Boston,
Lettuce Great Lakes,
Lettuce Winter Marvel,
Lettuce Salad Bowl,
Lettuce Red Salad Bowl,
Lettuce May Queen,
Lettuce Regina Summer,
Lettuce White Paris Island Cos,
Lettuce Vitoria Summer

 

[Tropical Gardening Noob]

My lettuce seedlings are Black-Seeded-Simpsons. I'll let you know if they do well.

 

[Chuck]

A local seed supplier states these can be grown year round here (summer included):
Lettuce Frisee Atalaia,
Lettuce Batavia Cacimba,
Lettuce Batavia Joaquina,
Lettuce Brava,
Lettuce Cerbiatta,
Lettuce Grand Rapids TBR,
Lettuce Crespa Palmas,
Lettuce Delicious,
Lettuce Hanson,
Lettuce Itapuã Super,
Lettuce Mimosa Prado,
Lettuce Repolhuda Carminia,
Lettuce Simpson Black Seeded

And there are these varieties which can be grown only on winter months:
Lettuce Baba Summer,
Lettuce White Boston,
Lettuce Great Lakes,
Lettuce Winter Marvel,
Lettuce Salad Bowl,
Lettuce Red Salad Bowl,
Lettuce May Queen,
Lettuce Regina Summer,
Lettuce White Paris Island Cos,
Lettuce Vitoria Summer

I have grown many of these. They all bolt and turn bitter in the heat. They will be edible for a short while but down here it just gets too hot too soon

 

[Tropical Gardening Noob]

hmmm... I guess that is something I'll have to watch out for

 

[splinx]

They all bolt and turn bitter in the heat. They will be edible for a short while but down here it just gets too hot too soon

Some claim to be very resistant. But I never tried any.

 

[headfullofbees]

Even here in the UK, where it seldom gets much above 80F, I have to shade my lettuce in the summer months.

 

[rosiecotton19]

Michelle, good luck on your first garden! My suggestions are more general:

1) Don't take on too much and don't buy too many seeds! It's easy to go out and buy tons of seeds, but you will find that preparing the soil, fencing, cultivating, weeding, etc, can be very time consuming. Err on the side of too little.

2) Don't forget about animal pests. One of my first in-ground gardens got completely mown down by rabbits. Now I have a fence to keep the rabbits out. Also birds love to peck at seeds you just put in the ground- now i put a very thin cover over them (known as "fleece") until they germinate.

3) Harvest your plants! I know this seems like stupid advice, but one of my biggest problems is that I'll see something that's almost ready and think, oh I'll give it another day or so- and then BAM it's rotten or an animal has gotten to it or I just get busy and forget. Just go ahead and harvest whenever it looks good!

4) check out a good book on organic gardening from your library- this will give you instructions on soil preparation, etc

5) start a compost pile!

6) pay attention to sunlight patterns in your garden area before you plant. Which areas get lots of shade? Which are always in sun? This will change throughout the day as the sun moves across the sky, so you may want to have a sunny day where you're at home most of the day and just take photos every hour or two. This will tell you which areas have morning sun (cooler), afternoon sun (hotter), sun all day, shade all day, etc. Some plants like different things so you will know where they will be happiest.

HTH, and welcome to gardening!