有些人喜歡晚餐中用生菜沙拉或者其他綠葉蔬菜做開胃菜。古埃及和古羅馬人也喜歡在晚餐中吃生菜，但是他們把生菜放在最後。
There are hundreds of kinds of head and leaf lettuces. The most popular ones include head lettuces such as iceberg, Boston, bibb and romaine.
球生菜和葉生菜的種類有幾百種，最常見的生菜包括：卷心生菜、波士頓生菜、比布生菜和長葉生菜。
Experts say lettuce is one of the easiest vegetables to grow in your garden. The best time to plant the seeds is during cool weather. Advisers at the University of Illinois Extension say the best planting temperature is fifteen degrees Celsius.
專家稱，生菜是菜園裏最易種植的蔬菜之壹，涼爽天氣是播種的最佳時間。伊利諾伊大學推廣部門的園藝顧問表示，播種的最佳溫度是攝氏15度。
Lettuce seeds are small, so do not place them too deep in the ground. If you plant some seeds every week or two, you will have harvests ready to eat one after another.
生菜的種子小，所以不要在土裏埋得太深，如果每壹到兩周播壹些種子，妳將能得到源源不斷的生菜供應。
You can use a seed tray to start the seeds indoors. The container should be deep enough to hold at least three centimeters of soil.
妳可以用播種盤在室內播種，容器的深度要至少可以盛下3厘米高的土。
There should be about one centimeter of space between the soil and the top of the container. The container should have holes in the bottom so extra water can flow out.
在土壤與容器口要有1厘米的空間，容器底部要有小洞,以便多余水分排出。
Drop the seeds over the surface and cover them lightly with soil. If the soil is not already a little wet, give it some water. But not too much -- you do not want to drown the seeds.
在土壤表層撒上種子，然後輕輕蓋上壹層土。如果土不夠濕潤就灑點水，但別灑太多--不要把種子淹壞。
Next, cover the seed tray with paper. Remove the paper when the seedlings have grown up far enough to touch it. You can transplant the seedlings into the garden when they are about two to three centimeters tall. Do this when the weather is not too hot and not too cold.
然後，用紙把播種盤蓋上。當幼苗長到快接觸到紙的時候把紙拿掉，等幼苗長到2到3厘米高的時候就可以移栽到菜園裏了，但是移栽時溫度要適宜。
Take out as much of the soil as you can with the seedlings. Plant them in the ground in a hole that is bigger than the lettuce roots. Keep the plants watered, but not too heavily.
移栽幼苗時盡量多帶些土，在地上挖個比生菜根大壹點的洞，將幼苗種下。要勤澆水，但是不要澆太多。
Harvest leaf lettuces when the leaves are big enough to eat. Pull the leaves from the outside of the planting so the inside leaves will keep growing. Or, you can cut off the whole plant. Leave about two or three centimeters above the ground so the plant will re-grow. Cut off head lettuces at ground level.
當葉子長到能食用的時候，就可以采摘葉生菜了。把生菜外面的葉子摘下來，這樣裏面葉子能繼續生長。或者，妳可以把整個生菜割下來，在地面上留2到3厘米的根莖，這樣生菜還能重新生長。如果是結球生菜，就沿著地平面割下來。
Lettuce is best when served fresh. Store the remainder in the refrigerator in a plastic bag. It will last a few days and sometimes longer.
新鮮的生菜是最好的，剩下的生菜應該用塑料袋裝好放入冰箱保存，可以保存幾天甚至更長時間。