Matina Sweet Butterhead.
Territorial seed company says these get to 7 inches across, but other sources I’ve read say this variety only gets to about 4 inches. I realize you can eat it at any time, but I wanna maximize my yield, so I don’t want to harvest it if the head can still get bigger.
Of course, I don’t wanna let it go too long and have it turn bitter.
It will add weight and density in the head until it begins to bolt, you can gently squeeze to feel how the head is filling out. If it was started indoors it probably won’t be bolting for a while, if it was overwintered or exposed to cold when it had less than a few leaves they bolt faster.
Bitterness is caused by stress, harvesting early in the morning, washing in cold water and storing in the fridge overnight will also help. I saved some seeds from Mayan Jaguar a few years ago and my boss walked up and plucked a leaf off a 3 ft. bolted plant, ate it and said something like, “Yum, sweet” and I was like “What is wrong with him?”, because I thought it should be bitter, but it wasn’t, those plants got plenty of water and fertilizer so while the heat caused them to bolt a little too soon they were not stressed.
