Tom Thumb Lettuce Vegetable Seeds Packet

• Prepared garden bed or seed trays: Lettuce can be direct sown or started in trays; both work.
• Seed-starting mix: If starting indoors, a fine mix gives tiny seed good contact.
• Fine-rose watering can or mister: Waters shallow-sown seed without washing it away.
• Shade cloth or row cover: Extends the season on either end of summer heat.
• Plant labels: Useful for tracking succession sowings every couple of weeks.

• Sharp knife or scissors: Cut each small head at the base.
• Small bowl or basket: One head makes about one salad, so no large container is needed.
• Damp towel or produce bags: Wrap and refrigerate straight after harvest to keep the leaves crisp.

Tip: Harvest each head whole at about seven weeks, cutting at the base while the leaves are cool and crisp.

Light:

• Prefers full sun in cool weather and part shade in heat (about 4-8 hours of sun).

Soil:

• Loose, fertile, well-drained soil, pH 6.0-7.0, with compost worked in before sowing.

Watering:

• Requires consistent moisture, since lettuce roots are shallow.
• Water in the morning at soil level; dry spells make leaves bitter.

Temperature & Climate:

• Grows well in cool weather, 45-75°F. Frost hardy, but sustained heat causes bolting.

Fertilization:

• Work compost into the bed before sowing.
• Side-dress lightly with a balanced fertilizer mid-season; excess nitrogen gives soft, leafy growth that rots more easily.

Thinning:

• Thin seedlings to the final spacing once they have two true leaves, and eat the thinnings as baby greens.

Mulching:

• A light mulch of straw or shredded leaves keeps soil cool and moist and keeps leaves off the ground.

Succession Sowing:

• Sow a short row every two weeks in cool weather for a steady supply, and again in late summer.

Watering:

• Keep soil evenly moist; avoid overhead watering late in the day, which invites mildew.

Harvesting:

• Cut each small head whole at the base at about seven weeks.
• Harvest in the morning when leaves are cool and crisp.

Storing:

• Rinse, dry well, and store loosely wrapped in the refrigerator for up to a week.

• Sowing into summer heat: Tom Thumb is a cool-season lettuce; sow early in spring and again in late summer
• Crowding: heads are small, but spacing of 6 to 8 inches keeps airflow up and bottom rot down
• Warm soil at sowing: lettuce seed germinates poorly in hot soil; sow in cooler weather or shade the bed

1. Culinary Applications:

• One head, one salad, served whole-leaf or torn
• Sandwiches and burgers, where small leaves fit without trimming
• Lettuce cups for small bites
• Baby-leaf harvests from early thinnings

2. Nutritional Benefits:

• Source of folate and vitamin K in typical butterhead ranges
• Low in calories and high in water content
• Provides fiber and potassium in modest amounts

3. Garden Uses:

• Compact heads suit window boxes, pots, and tight beds
• Cool-season crop that works in cold frames and unheated greenhouses
• Quick maturity makes it a natural for succession sowing

4. Practical Benefits:

• Small heads mean no half-used lettuce wilting in the fridge
• Grows in a container as little as 6 inches deep
• Worth planning for: sow early and often in cool weather

• Leaves: The edible part: a small, tender butterhead eaten raw in salads and sandwiches.
• Thinnings: Young seedlings pulled while thinning work as baby greens.

Butterhead lettuce, raw, per 100g (standard reference value for Bibb and Boston types)

Calories: 13 kcal

• Carbohydrates: 2.23 g
• Protein: 1.35 g
• Total fat: 0.22 g
• Dietary fiber: 1.1 g
• Vitamin C: 3.7 mg (4% RDA)
• Folates: 73 µg (18% RDA)
• Potassium: 238 mg
• Vitamin K: 102 µg
• Cholesterol: 0 mg

Good companions

• Carrots, radishes: different root depths and little competition; radishes mature before lettuce needs the space
• Onions, garlic, chives: the scent may help deter aphids
• Strawberries, cucumbers, tall crops: lettuce tolerates the light shade they cast, which helps in warm weather

Poor companions / avoid

• Cabbage family (broccoli, cabbage, kale): reported to compete for nutrients and space
• Celery, parsley: sometimes reported as poor neighbors in tight beds

• Aphids: cluster on leaf undersides and in the heart; strong water spray or insecticidal soap
• Slugs and snails: ragged holes and slime trails, worst in damp weather; handpick or use iron phosphate bait
• Cutworms: cut young seedlings at the base; use collars around transplants

• Downy mildew: yellow patches with gray fuzz underneath in cool, damp weather; space plants and avoid overhead watering
• Bottom rot (Sclerotinia drop): heads wilt and rot where they touch wet soil; keep leaves off the ground and avoid crowding
• Lettuce mosaic virus: mottled, stunted leaves, spread through seed and aphids; remove infected plants and control aphids
• Tipburn: brown leaf edges, a physiological problem tied to fast growth and uneven watering rather than a pathogen; water evenly

Direct sow 1/4 inch deep in early spring, thin to 6 to 8 inches, and keep soil evenly moist. Tom Thumb grows in full sun in cool weather and part shade in heat.

Yes, and it is one of the easier lettuces for pots. A container at least 6 inches deep with good drainage works, and the compact heads, about 4 to 6 inches tall, suit window boxes and tight beds.

Roughly 45 to 55 days from sowing, with each small head cut whole at about seven weeks. Sow a few seeds every two weeks for a steady supply.

Heads are about the size of a tennis ball or baseball, 4 to 6 inches tall and 5 to 7 inches wide. One head makes about one salad.

Yes, it tolerates cool weather well and can be grown in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse through the cool season. Sustained summer heat is what it dislikes.

Vacuum-sealed Shido Seeds packets stay viable for up to 10 years when stored properly, compared to roughly one year for a standard paper seed packet. Storing unused packets somewhere cool and dry helps preserve that extended shelf life.

The variety is named for General Tom Thumb, a famous performer in P.T. Barnum's show during the 1800s, in reference to the very small heads.

Yes. Every Shido Seeds packet, Tom Thumb included, is germination-tested at independent third-party labs before it ever reaches a shelf.