When the first warmth of spring came calling, soft delicate heads of curly, wavy and frilled lettuces in bright sunset colors and tender green were sprouting all around Kris and Steve Van Haitsma’s Mud Lake Farm.

The farm’s two biomass-heated hydroponic greenhouses sit on the Ottawa-Allegan county line on land that has been in Steve Van Haitsma’s family since 1904.
 
Year-round, they grow more than 30 varieties of hydroponic lettuce, available through their community-supported agriculture farm, West Michigan Cooperative and area stores, including Sister’s Natural Foods, Grand River Grocery and Bill’s Best Market in Delton….

….Lettuce likes daytime temperatures below 80s and nighttime temperatures in the 50s. You can plant your seeds outdoors or, if you like, start your seeds indoors in containers — go for wide, shallow containers.

Treat them lightly — always tear with your hands. Salad greens with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar make the tastiest and easiest salad. An herb vinaigrette is another simple option. These lettuces are too pretty to wilt or puree, so use as a wrapper for fish and shellfish, in Asian summer rolls, as a bed for chicken salad and in fritattas and egg salad.

“Growing lettuce in your soil makes cleaner, tastier lettuce,” Van Haitsma said. “With grocery store lettuce, they take off so much of the plant that you only get the tight center. They take off the outer leaves wherever there are bugs or dirt, and sometimes that doesn’t leave you with much.”

Wednesday, May 14, 2008
By Jaye Beeler
Grand Rapids Press Food Editor

Read the full article here http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grpress/index.ssf?/base/features-2/121077093610091.xml&coll=6

A good soil-less system for growing lettuce is Emily’s garden and Solexx Greenhouses are durable, insulated greenhouses to grow lettuce throughout the year.