What is Summer Bibb Lettuce?
Summer Bibb is a butterhead lettuce variety, one of many types of lettuce known for loose heads of leaves, pretty bright green colors, and a delicate texture and sweet, mild flavor. Butterhead leaves can be used in salads, but they’ll also stand up to light sautéing. Use the large, sturdy leaves to make wraps, or even through a wedge of a head on the grill. With Summer Bibb you can enjoy lettuce in all these ways, even if you live in a warmer climate where lettuce is typically more difficult to grow. Lettuce bolts in the heat, becoming unusable, but Summer Bibb will resist bolting and hold out over other butterhead varieties by about two or three weeks. It is because of this greater tolerance of heat, Summer Bibb is also a good choice for growing in a greenhouse.
Growing Summer Bibb Lettuce in the Garden
As a cool weather vegetable, lettuce is a great crop to grow in spring and fall. You can start seeds indoors and transplant seedlings to beds outside, or if there is no risk of frost you can sow Bibb lettuce seeds right in the soil outside. The time to maturity for Summer Bibb is about 60 days. Sow your seeds or plant your transplants in soil that will drain well and in a site that gets full sun. Keep individual plants about 12 inches (31 cm.) apart so they have room to grow. Summer Bibb lettuce care is easy from this point on. Water regularly without letting the soil get soggy. You can harvest individual leaves or the entire heads as they mature. For warmer climate lettuce, Summer Bibb is hard to beat. You get a tasty, crisp, and attractive lettuce that won’t bolt as easily as other varieties with similar properties. Plan around the weather and enjoy a long, continuous harvest of this delicious Bibb lettuce in your garden.
