🥗 Lettuce
Loves cool, moist weather — crisp and tender in mild climates.
What the numbers mean
These are the actual parameters this game runs on. Growth is driven by growing degree days: each day contributes max(0, min(mean temp, 28) − 4), and Lettuce is ready when that total reaches 650. That is why the same seed takes a very different number of days in Dublin and in Guangzhou.
| Base temperature | 4°CBelow this, the plant accumulates no growing degree days at all. |
|---|---|
| Degree days to maturity | 650 °C·dThe heat budget it must accumulate before it is ready to pick. |
| Comfortable range | 7–24°CWhere it grows without stress. |
| Frost damage below | -3°CLeaves start taking frost damage below this low. |
| Killed below | -8°CBelow this it does not come back. |
| Heat stress above | 26°CAbove this the plant slows down and stops setting fruit well. |
| Typical time to harvest | 50–70 days |
| Yield per bed | 6 heads |
Things worth knowing
- The milky sap contains lactucarium; ancient Romans ate lettuce before bed to sleep better.
- Above 24°C lettuce bolts to flower and the leaves turn bitter.
Where and when to sow Lettuce
Pick your city to see the months when Lettuce scores well against that city's real climate records: