Growing your own lettuce is not only super-easy to grow, but cheaper than buying shop bought lettuce on a daily/weekly basis. They also grow in a wide range of sizes, colours and textures which you can’t always find elsewhere, which means you will have all the ingredients you need for a unique, tasty and colourful salad.
Why Grow Lettuce From Seed?
Dobies has a variety of Lettuce for all occasions, which are quick and simple to grow. Sow rows of Lettuce every two weeks through the spring until July. Come September start sowing winter lettuce seeds. This will give a constant supply of Lettuce pretty much through-out the year. Quick growing ‘Amaranth Superfood Salad Mix' to crispy ’Red Iceberg’ to ‘All year round’ will provide a continual supply.
Where To Grow Lettuce?
One of the best things about growing your own Lettuce plants is that they take up little space, so you don’t need a large garden to enjoy homegrown goods. They can be grown on the edge of borders or even in a window box if space is more limited. Wherever you decide to grow them, It’s a quick and easy crop.
How To Grow Lettuce From Seed?
- Prepare the ground for your Lettuce seed sowing, removing weeds, fork in organic matter or well-rotted manure. Consolidating and raking a nice fine seedbed. If soil is heavy add Seaweed meal.
- Alternatively, start lettuce off in trays of individual cells or a cell propagator. They can be transplanted once large enough to handle. Always use a decent peat-free compost.
- When it comes to planting lettuce out, rake in some organic slow-release fertiliser like comfrey pellets.
- Put down gardening lines to create even rows as this will make weeding easier. Check the packet for distancing but leave gaps between rows for continual sowing of crops. Lettuce can be sown and grown every few weeks.
- Sow the seed thickly and thin out any excess lettuce seedlings to allow correct space for remaining seedlings. Thinned out seedlings can be sprinkled into a salad. Watering regularly particularly in dry conditions, a regular liquid feed will be beneficial and always check for the dreaded slugs and snails.
Unfortunately, pesky slugs and snails are attracted to the soft tasty foliage of Lettuce, so if this becomes a recurring problem, try organic slug pellets to keep them at bay. However, only use those as a last resort and use moderately if necessary, traps and barriers can do just the job and be used as an on-going solution. For extra precautions, in dry periods, pick off any mildewed leaves which cause the initial attraction!
Buy lettuce seeds UK from Dobies!
