Lettuce and Spinach in November: A Late-Season Gift for PNW Gardeners

It’s easy to think the garden sleeps once the days turn short and wet, but here in the Pacific Northwest, cool months offer a quiet second act.

While tomatoes fade, tender greens like lettuce and spinach are just getting comfortable.

As long as the soil isn’t frozen — and with a touch of protection — you can keep harvesting crisp leaves well into winter.

Why These Greens Work Now

• Cool-season crops: Lettuce and spinach thrive in chilly air and moist soil.

• Short days = sweet flavor: Slow, steady growth concentrates sugars for milder, sweeter leaves.

• Cold-tolerant varieties: Choose cultivars labeled for fall or winter — they’ll shrug off frost.

Planting Basics (PNW, Early–Mid November)

Fall planting in the Pacific Northwest is all about patience and timing. The air is cool, the soil damp, and the light soft — perfect for germinating hardy greens if you sow with care.

Prepare the bed:

Loosen the top 3–4 inches of soil and mix in compost to add nutrients and improve drainage. Break up clumps so seeds make good soil contact.

Moisten, don’t soak:

Soil should feel like a wrung-out sponge — damp but not muddy. Overly wet soil can cause seed rot.

Sow shallowly:

• Lettuce: Scatter seeds lightly across the surface or plant in shallow furrows about ¼ inch deep. Cover with a fine layer of compost — just enough to hide them from light.

• Spinach: Sow ½ inch deep, spaced 2 inches apart in rows 8–10 inches apart. For baby leaves, sow more densely.

Water gently:

Use a watering can or fine-rose nozzle so you don’t wash seeds away. Keep the surface evenly moist until germination (5–10 days for lettuce, 7–14 for spinach).

Thin seedlings:

Once seedlings have two or three true leaves, thin to 4–6 inches apart for baby greens or 8–10 inches for mature heads. Eat the extras as microgreens — they’re the season’s first reward.

Mulch lightly:

Add a thin layer of straw or leaf mulch to retain moisture and buffer temperature swings.

Protection helps:

A simple floating row cover or small cold frame protects from slugs, frost, and heavy rain while still letting in light.

Quick Spacing Tip

In a 12-inch pot, plant about 4–6 lettuces or 6–8 spinach plants.

A 16–18 inch container can hold roughly 8 lettuce heads or 10 spinach plants spaced 3–4 inches apart.

Stagger rows like eggs in a carton so leaves can expand evenly and shade the soil — it keeps them sweeter for longer.

Timing & Harvest

• Baby leaves: ~30–40 days

• Full heads / mature spinach: ~45–60 days (slower as days shorten)

• Overwinter bonus: With a bit of cover, spinach often cruises through winter and surges again in early spring.

Varieties to Try

Lettuce

• Winter Density — compact romaine, thrives in cool weather

• Little Gem — mini romaine, perfect for containers

• Fall & Winter Mix — blend designed for short-day growing

Spinach

• Bloomsdale — savoyed leaves, classic and hardy

• Winter Giant — exceptionally cold-tolerant

• Baby Leaf — fast to harvest for salads

The PNW Reality Check

Fall gardening here is less about abundance and more about continuity — the steady joy of snipping greens while rain drums on the shed roof.

Lettuce and spinach might grow slower now, but their flavor deepens, and their resilience is a reminder that the garden never really stops.

Tuck a few seeds into damp soil, cover when frosty, and let the season’s quiet magic do the rest.

And if the bed looks a little bare in mid-winter, plant a ring of winter violas or pansies around the edges — they’ll bloom through the chill, giving your salad bowl a cheerful border of color.