Best time to plant lettuce in Melbourne
Lactuca sativa
Sow lettuce in Melbourne in Sep to May.
Grown mainly for its foliage, lettuce is an annual in the family Asteraceae whose leaves usually go raw into salads, sandwiches and wraps. Some forms are grown for other parts, such as celtuce, whose stems are eaten. Its name traces back to the Roman word lactuca.
When to sow in Melbourne
Melbourne, VIC is in the cool zone. Its months for lettuce apply here without a frost adjustment.
Matches local guides.
Your local conditions can shift any months shown here, so treat them as a guide.
Frost in Melbourne
Frost usually arrives in Melbourne around mid June and finishes by late August. In about 1 year in 10 it comes as early as late May or as late as late September, so frost-tender crops are planned around those dates.
From the average of its 2 Bureau of Meteorology stations, 1991 to 2020, counting a night at 2°C or lower as a frost. Frost hollows and hillsides can shift these dates by weeks, so ask the growers at your garden too.
On a shared plot: suits a plot
Finishes in a season and stays within its space, so it suits most plots.
Growing details
- How to start
- Sow directly in the bed
- Sowing depth
- 3mm
- Plant spacing
- 30cm
- Row spacing
- 30cm
- Height
- 20cm
- Germination
- Best in cool soil, and often fails in hot weather
- Time to harvest
- 50-85 days from sowing
- Frost
- Hardy, takes a light frost
- Sun
- Part sun
- Life cycle
- annual
These are typical figures, and varieties differ. Your seed packet takes priority.