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Growing Romaine Lettuce in the San Lorenzo Valley
If you garden under the redwoods of Felton, Ben Lomond, or Boulder Creek, you know the frustration of growing fruiting crops in dappled shade. Lettuce is the happy exception. For a cool-season green, the valley's shade is not a problem to overcome. It is an asset.
Growing Romaine Lettuce in the Coastal Fog Belt
If you garden in the immediate coastal band, the foggy strip through Santa Cruz, Capitola, the Aptos coast, and out toward Davenport, you have landed in the single best place in the county to grow lettuce. The cool, damp summers that frustrate tomato growers are exactly what a romaine wants.
Growing Romaine Lettuce in the Santa Cruz Banana Belt
If you garden in the county's warm sunny pocket, the hill belts above the fog around Soquel, Aptos, and the sunnier side of Santa Cruz, you can grow excellent romaine. The catch is the opposite of the tomato story: here you plant lettuce around the warm season rather than into it.