Published on Friday, May 9, 2025

By Victoria Torley

Metric Man misses crunchy lettuce. Big crunchy iceberg lettuce in salad with croutons and bacon bits and radishes all mixed in with blue cheese dressing. Yum. The salad of “spring greens” or spinach with the stems left on so that you have to wrestle them with your fork, is not for Metric Man. Oh no. Just something crunchy, please.

Unfortunately for my poor, beleaguered hubby, “Lechuga Americana,” the crunchy stuff, is seldom available where we live and it can be pricey when we find it.

So, is it impossible to grow good lettuce in Costa Rica? The answer is no, although the iceberg lettuce is touchy.

Lettuce likes a cool environment and bolts (goes to seed) in hot weather. Do we have cool weather in the mountains around the lake?

Of course we do. Folks on the coast: not so much. Lettuce gets sunburned easily as the leaves get bleached white. Can we prevent sunburn? Of course we can. All we need is shade cloth.

Lettuce needs really rich soil, so we have no trouble there, but it also likes light soil with lots of organics. Shoot, that’s easy. If you have heavy soil, add rice husks for instant lightness.

For organics, make yourself some manure tea (a kilo of cow manure in a porous bag with half an over-ripe banana, hang in a gallon or so of water and let it sit in the sun for a week, the web has more recipes) and use it to water the lettuce. No problem.

If you find that the lettuce is not doing well, add some Miracle Gro or the equivalent. Or increase the amount of manure tea you feed the plants. Remember, lettuce does best with repeated small feedings, so don’t let it go too long between dinners.

Lettuce has shallow roots, so it needs to be checked for dryness daily and watered. Again, no problem. Those rice husks can be used as top dressing to prevent drying or you can simply check daily. If your lettuce is outside under shade cloth in the rainy season... well, let’s just say you barely need to check it, except to be sure it isn’t waterlogged!

Lettuce seeds are usually available locally, even the iceberg lettuce, but those seeds are tiny! Start them in trays and thin like mad (and eat the little plants) so that only the biggest and best are transplanted.

Late afternoon is the best time to transplant. Then watch for bugs and slugs. Use the beer remedy for the slugs and deal with anything else that attacks them in your own way.

Well, poor Metric Man may not get iceberg lettuce soon, but I found a variety called “Summer Wonder, or Maravilla de Verano, that does well around the shores of the Mediterranean, that grows what looks like crunchy heads or at least not all wilted. I will let you know...

Plant of the week. The yellow water lily (Nymphaea mexicana), is a species of aquatic plant with bright yellow flowers and floating leaves that is native to the Southern United States and Mexico. The lovely flowers are open from midday to late afternoon. When the plants are crowded, the leaves may rise above the water. The plant was first discovered in Mexico, which accounts for the species name.

In Costa Rica, there is a vivero named Koi en Costa Rica, located in Sarapiqui, in Heredia, where you can find water lily plants in yellow, purple and red colors.

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Find more interesting stories about gardening in Costa Rica on the AM Costa Rica Garden page. Questions on this article, Ms. Victoria Torley, gardener columnist, can be reached by emailing victoriatorley1@gmail.com
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