Celtuce · Reading, England, United Kingdom
When to plant celtuce in Reading
Main outdoor window
3-24 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
17 April
In Reading, 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 Reading
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
6-27 Mar
Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
3-24 Apr
Two weeks before your last frost.
Sow direct
3-24 Apr
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 Jun - 30 Sep
Celtuce through the year
Against the frost risk in Reading
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 Reading.
The median frost-free season here is 210 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 Reading
Other vegetables to time
Growing celtuce in Reading
When should I plant celtuce in Reading?
Aim for 3-24 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 22 Apr - 13 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will celtuce be ready to harvest in Reading?
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.