Lettuce seedlings tend to be quite hardly, but late spring can greatly damage the leaves if you do not protect them properly. May can be an odd time for gardeners as one moment plants will be wilting from the scorching heat and the next moment they could be getting pelted by a heavy rain.

These temperature fluctuations can ruin your vegetables crops, but the stress can cause lettuce to bolt, which it when the plant begins to stop growing leaves and instead starts making seeds by producing flowers. This results in fewer lettuce leaves that are smaller, tougher and taste extremely bitter. 

However, Theresa, an organic gardener and founder of Tending My Garden, has shared a simple way to protect lettuce from spring weather is straw mulch. 

Theresa said: “One of the reasons it’s so important to cover new seedlings with a cross-hatching of straw is because of the protection it offers small plants from hard rain.  A beating rain can ruin your entire bed of newly transplanted lettuce seedling.”

Mulching is a simple gardening technique of adding organic material to the topsoil around plants to help feed them and smother any weeds growing nearby. 

Straw in particular helps regulate soil temperature, preventing lettuce from suffering intense fluctuations, and also protects crops from harsh sun and heavy rain.

It is also excellent at slowly down evaporation so that the soil has more water, which is important for lettuce as it has shallow roots and will easily wilt in the heat. 

This is an easy way to protect fragile lettuce seedlings that are just starting out but it will help keep other leafy green crops like spinach safe no matter the weather this spring.

How to use straw mulch to protect lettuce crops 

To begin, make sure to water the soil deeply before adding your mulch or apply it after it has rained. 

Then, add a thin layer by sprinkling the straw around your lettuce seedlings. Do not add too much straw at once, otherwise it can clump up and make it difficult for water to reach the soil. 

Theresa said: “Obviously, you cannot throw piles of straw onto small or tall seedlings.  If you hold a handful of straw above the plants, shake the straw and let it fall onto the transplants piece by piece, the plants will not be damaged.”

Make sure the mulch is not directly touching the lettuce stems as it holds a lot of water, and too much moisture around the base of a plant can encourage pests. 

Then, replenish the mulch when needed, and your lettuce will stay healthy and produce tastier leaves while being protected from the changing weather at this time of year.