Celtuce · Southend-on-Sea, England, United Kingdom
When to plant celtuce in Southend-on-Sea
Main outdoor window
7-28 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
21 March
In Southend-on-Sea, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jun - 30 Sep
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Southend-on-Sea
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
7-28 Feb
Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
7-28 Mar
Two weeks before your last frost.
Sow direct
7-28 Mar
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 Jun - 30 Sep
Celtuce through the year
Against the frost risk in Southend-on-Sea
Why these dates
Sow from two weeks before the last frost. Unlike a leaf lettuce you want this one to run up, so bolting weather is working in your favour.
Takes about -3C, the same as any lettuce, and the stem is no hardier than the leaf.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Celtuce are timed from 6 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Southend-on-Sea.
The median frost-free season here is 261 days, against 70 to 90 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Southend-on-Sea
Other vegetables to time
Growing celtuce in Southend-on-Sea
When should I plant celtuce in Southend-on-Sea?
Aim for 7-28 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 28 Mar - 18 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will celtuce be ready to harvest in Southend-on-Sea?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jun - 30 Sep, based on 70 to 90 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will celtuce tolerate?
Takes about -3C, the same as any lettuce, and the stem is no hardier than the leaf.