Iceberg lettuce · Tarsus, Mersin, Turkey
When to plant iceberg lettuce in Tarsus
Main outdoor window
25 Jan - 8 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
15 February
In Tarsus, 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 Tarsus
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
4-18 Jan
Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
25 Jan - 8 Feb
Three weeks before your last frost.
Transplant
1-15 Feb
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 Jun - 30 Sep
Iceberg lettuce through the year
Against the frost risk in Tarsus
Why these dates
Start indoors six weeks before the last frost and plant out two weeks before. A check to growth at any point gives you a loose head rather than a dense one.
Takes around -3C. The long season means a late sowing can be caught by the first autumn frost before it has hearted.
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. Iceberg lettuce 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 Tarsus.
The median frost-free season here is 309 days, against 70 to 85 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Tarsus
Other vegetables to time
Growing iceberg lettuce in Tarsus
When should I plant iceberg lettuce in Tarsus?
Aim for 25 Jan - 8 Feb in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 19 Feb - 5 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will iceberg lettuce be ready to harvest in Tarsus?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jun - 30 Sep, based on 70 to 85 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will iceberg lettuce tolerate?
Takes around -3C. The long season means a late sowing can be caught by the first autumn frost before it has hearted.