Growing Guide – Summer Crisp Lettuces

What are Summer Crisp Lettuces?

Summer crisp lettuces (also called Batavian Lettuces) are varieties of lettuces that have been bred to be grown later in the season.  The great thing about summer crisps is that they are extremely heat-tolerant.  On top of heat tolerance, they are also very resistant to tip burn, bottom rot, and bolting.  They all are loosehead type lettuces (think butter crunch).  So if left to maturity, they form a loose head where the inner leaves will be nicely blanched and crisp.

Our favorite variety is called Nevada, and it forms a slightly tighter head that stays mild and crisp even during the 100-degree days we have in July and August.  The seed sellers don’t advertise this fact, but Nevada is not only heat-tolerant but also very cold-tolerant.  

Last fall, we planted Nevada directly in the garden in late September. The plants got to be about 3 inches tall before the winter set in.  These plants survived all winter in a cold frame and took off growing again in February and lasted until June!  That sure makes it easy to have salads all year long.

Summer Crisp Varieties

Summer crisp lettuces come in a variety of colors, including greens, reds, and a very pretty speckled variety as well.  They are available from several seed sellers online, but my favorite is True Leaf Market.  (We love True Leaf by the way).  I’ve also found many of these varieties at Johnny’s Seeds.

Here’s a link to the selection they have over at True Leaf Market!

Maturity dates are pretty standard for lettuce, most varieties are ready to eat in about 45 to 50 days.  But the nice thing is that because they are so heat-tolerant, they can be left in the garden for a long time and can continue to grow.  Last year, we had a couple of heads of  Nevada that weighed in at 1.50 pounds each and were still mild and delicious.

Look for the following varieties:

• Muir
• Concept
• Nevada
• Magenta
• Cherokee
• Mottistone
• Michelle
• Chrystal
• Great Lakes 118
• Reno
• Arianna

Try starting them Indoors

We try to start lettuce about every 3 weeks, either indoors or directly in the garden.  I have found Summer Crisps do very well when started indoors under the lights and then transplanted out later in the garden.  We switch all our lettuce plantings to Summer Crisps about mid-May and don’t switch back to other varieties until August 1st.  

If you start them indoors in cell packs about every 3 weeks (set them out in the garden when they are around 6 weeks old), you will have a constant supply of fresh lettuce all summer long.

Varieties We Have Tried

Over the years, we have tried many of the varieties out there, and we have loved most of them. Our favorite is Nevada, it’s tasty, can be eaten at any stage, holds up well to the summer heat, and has been very dependable.

Our second favorite is Muir. It has a frilly leaf, holds up well to the head, and tastes really good. We have been growing Muir for 4+ years now and LOVE IT!

Cherokee and Magenta are both solid choices that we have grown multiple times. They are both more of a red lettuce, so they add some nice color to our salads.

Fusion, we have grown a few times, and honestly, we didn’t like this one. It has a very firm stalk inside the leaf, which gives a nice crunch. But the leaf itself is very tough, not nearly as tender as the other varieties. And the taste was just . . . meh.

There have been a bunch of new varieties introduced (at least to me) over the last few years. The newer varieties include Michelle, Arianna, Chrystal, and Great Lakes 118. I have bought seeds for all 4 of these varieties in 2025, and we are going to grow them this summer. So I will report back on how those do.