1. Almost all varieties of lettuce should be grown in the winter here in South Florida. The extreme heat that we experience throughout the rest of the year causes the lettuce to become bitter and usually to bolt and flower. This rule also goes for most brassica vegetables as well ( which is why im waiting till winter to plant my brussel sprouts). Just so you get an idea, ideal temperatures for growing butterhead is between 60 and 80 degrees F… around 65 being optimal…tell me when we get those temperatures here?? haha
2. Butterhead varieties tend to do better growing in a full sun area, but like i stressed before, without those cool temperatures, you will just get bitter leaves and the plant will rush to bolt and flower.

I am now trying a new way of growing lettuce during the summer- indoors, with grow lights. I bought 4’ long florescent grow lights made specifically for growing plants or use with aquariums. I planted a rectangular planter (2’ long, 8" wide & 8" deep) with a scattering of Burpee’s “Lettuce Gourmet Blend”. The packet said that seedlings would emerge in 7-10 days. They were sprouting the very next day. We keep the thermostat at 75-76 degrees. I haven’t set up the grow lights yet and have kept them by a a south and a west window. I’m going to thin some of the seedlings and transplant them into a second similar planter and then plant some “Tyee F1” (Seeds of Change) & " Harmony Hybrid" (Burpee) Spinach.

I’m not sure if this is a cost effective way to grow some of my food, but it will be nice to have fresh, great tasting organic greens whenever I want to pick them. I’m sure I’ll try growing other crops or start other seedlings later. My little lettuce plants are growing real well so far even just sitting in the light coming through the window, but I’m sure they’ll be better off in the long run under the grow lights. Maybe this is something you’d like to try too. I’ll let you know how things go.

I guess we could, but there is something about the sound of that that I’m not too comfortable with. I have been in former “grow houses”, as a Realtor and they always seem to have a kind of creepy feel to them. I must admit that I’ve noticed that I see Hydroponic supply stores popping up all over town in small (& larger) neighborhood stores and I wonder what people are growing hydroponically, here in Miami. When I’ve gone into some of those stores, the salespersons don’t seem too interested in me, as soon as they realize that I’m growing an organic vegetable garden. I do admire people like halhurst, who have elaborate hydroponic set-ups with fish (talapia, I think) as part of the set-up for both food and to provide fertilizer for his plants. I’m very interested, but know I never would want to go to the trouble of setting everything up.

Call my efforts what you want, I’m just excited about my latest experiment!