What made my homegrown lettuce taste so bitter?
| Posted in Mountain West Gardening on
What’s causes lettuce to taste bitter? I picked it this afternoon and soaked it in a cold water (to make sure no grasshoppers or their parts stuck in it) for a couple of hours. I ended up throwing it all away, though, because none of it tasted good. What did I do wrong?
Replies
Is it nearing the end of its lifespan? When it's bolting or forming little flowers and seeds, it changes to a bitter taste. I'm in the southeast and lettuce doesn't grow this late in the hot summer; only in the early/mid springtime.
Hello,
I don't know where you live, but I am in Boise, and the weather has been unbelievably HOT. That will cause a lot of crops to become bitter, High temperatures trigger flowering/maturation mode in the plant. It puts everything it has into going to seed instead of making leaves. You can try "underplanting" it, in the shade of taller plants, but until it cools down, shade may not help. Good luck.