When summer is hot, the perfect accompaniment to any meal is a juicy succulent salad. Lettuce loves the coolness of Spring and Autumn so here in Southern Victoria, the long days and sometimes high temperatures of Summer can make head lettuce production a challenge.

Here are four steps to help you negotiate the trickiest months and keep you crunching on salads all through Summer!

Here in Southern Victoria, November is the month for warm season crop transplanting! Tomatoes, zucchini, capsicums, cucumbers have all been waiting for the night time temperatures to warm.

And as the weather really warms up, we sow beans, corn, pumpkins and more…

October is the month that finds us questioning- should we transplant NOW?

We base our transplant date on nighttime temperatures. Many of the cold sensitive crops such as tomatoes, basil, eggplant, capsicum, zucchini can be permentantly set back if transplanted too early. We mitigate this risk by using row covers and poly tunnels.

We have made a simple temperature chart to assist.