The upright, green leaves are famed for Caesar salads. Set the plants about 8 inches apart. It takes about 65 days from seed to maturity and is more heat-tolerant than its cousin, the variety Bibb. Set the plants about 10 inches apart. Head lettuce is hard to grow here, especially if heat sets in early.
Spinach is a plant for all seasons except hot summer.
Most spinach requires 35 to 45 days to maturity. Sow seeds again in the late summer and September for a fall and winter crop. The tender, flavorful leaves of home-grown spinach are nothing short of amazing. Mesclun is an increasingly hip salad green - actually a collection of textured, flavored and colorful greens such as arugula, chicory, chervil, endive, lettuce and cress. The trick to keeping the harvest going is to sow short rows or blocks of mesclun thinly - and often.