Tom Thumb
The best lettuce for a container, a small plot or a first sowing with children, and it is ready faster than anything else.
Tom Thumb is a butterhead the size of a tennis ball, and its small size is exactly why it works in Ireland. It hearts up in around eight weeks rather than twelve, so it slips into gaps between other crops, it grows happily in a window box out of slug range, and because you eat the whole plant in one go there is no half cut lettuce sitting in the rain going brown. It is an old variety, in catalogues since the nineteenth century, and it has not been improved on for its job.
Quick facts
- Botanical name
- Lactuca sativa
- Type
- Heirloom
- Category
- Mini butterhead
- Difficulty
- Easy, good first crop
- Hardiness
- Hardy, takes Irish frost
- In Ireland
- Cloche or fleece helps
- Germination
- 6 to 12 days at 10 to 20C
- Sowing depth
- 6mm
- Spacing
- 25cm apart, 30cm between rows
- Height
- 15cm
- Position
- Full sun
- Containers
- Grows well in pots
- Sowing to harvest
- 6 to 14 weeks
- Harvest
- May to September
Sowing and harvest calendar for Tom Thumb
Months shaded below are the reliable windows for Irish conditions.
Where to buy Tom Thumb lettuce seeds in Ireland
Irish suppliers that stock this, so postage stays domestic and seed arrives in time to sow. These are plain links, not paid placements.
Order online
- Seedaholic Irish Detailed packet notes, posted from Co. Galway Family run in Clonbur since 2005, deep heirloom range with detailed growing notes on every packet. Visit Seedaholic , Co. Galway
- Quickcrop Irish Sowing months shown on every listing Ballymote based, lists sowing and harvest months per product and ships across Ireland. Visit Quickcrop , Co. Sligo
Garden centres and mixed retailers
- Mr Middleton Irish Familiar named varieties, posted from Dublin Mail order arm of a long established Mary Street shop, carries the familiar named varieties the organic specialists skip. Visit Mr Middleton , Co. Dublin
- Johnstown Garden Centre Irish Widest branded range, though popular sorts sell out by midsummer Third generation family business near Naas with the widest branded range, though popular varieties sell out by midsummer. Visit Johnstown Garden Centre , Co. Kildare
Why it suits Ireland
Speed and size are the two things that make this variety useful here. Eight weeks from sowing to a cut head means a March sowing under cover is eaten in May, and a July sowing is eaten in September, so you get more sowings into the season than a twelve week iceberg allows.
The small footprint matters more than it sounds. Slug pressure in an Irish garden falls hardest on lettuce sitting in a bed for three months. A crop that is in and out in eight weeks, or grown entirely in a raised container, simply gives them less opportunity.
It is also the variety to give a child a packet of. It comes up quickly, it looks like a proper lettuce almost immediately, and the whole plant is harvested at once, which is more satisfying than picking outer leaves.
Growing notes
Sow two or three seeds per module from February under cover, or direct outdoors from April, and thin to one. Plant out at four to five weeks, 15cm apart each way, which is close enough that the leaves will just touch when the heads are ready.
Water consistently. Small butterheads have small root systems and are quick to complain, and in a container that means checking daily from June onwards.
Cut the whole plant at the base as soon as the centre feels firm when pressed gently. Left a fortnight past that point it goes soft in the middle, which in damp weather turns to rot rather than to seed.
Sow the last batch by mid-July for a September cut. Tom Thumb is not a winter variety and will not stand outdoors past the first hard frosts.
Common questions
How small is Tom Thumb really?
About the size of a tennis ball or a small orange when it is ready, and roughly 15cm across at the outer leaves. That is one generous side salad or two modest ones, not a family's worth. Plan on one plant per person per meal rather than treating it like a full sized butterhead, and space them 15cm apart instead of the usual 25cm.
Can I grow Tom Thumb in a window box?
This is what it is best at. A standard window box 15cm deep holds four or five plants, and a wall mounted box is one of the few places in an Irish garden that slugs struggle to reach. Use ordinary peat free multipurpose compost and water daily in warm weather, because a small root ball in a shallow box dries out fast and a checked plant turns bitter.
Is Tom Thumb slow to bolt?
Not especially, but it matters less because you harvest it so early. A plant that is out of the ground at eight weeks rarely gets the chance to bolt in an Irish summer. Sow a fresh few modules every fortnight rather than trying to hold a batch standing in the bed.
More lettuces to consider
Webb's Wonderful
Heirloom / Crisphead, iceberg type
The crunch of a shop bought iceberg with actual flavour, if you can give it space, water and a slug plan.
Growing notes and stockistsSalad Bowl
AGMOpen pollinated / Loose leaf, cut and come again
The most forgiving lettuce there is, and the one that turns a single sowing into six weeks of picking rather than ten days.
Growing notes and stockistsWinter Density
AGMOpen pollinated / Cos, winter hardy
The variety that puts lettuce on the table in December and January, and the reason an August sowing is worth remembering.
Growing notes and stockists