EXTENDING THE SEASON WITH LETTUCE

So easy to grow and with so many varieties to choose from, lettuce is a crop you can harvest nearly all year round if you grow successionally. Martin Fish explains

- Martin Fish

As a base for a salad, lettuce takes some beating and gone are the days of warm, limp lettuce leaves, because nowadays we can choose from a wide selection of crispy, crunchy leaves that come in many colours to brighten up our salad bowl.

When it comes to growing lettuce, anyone can have a go. It can be grown in the garden, greenhouse, polytunnel, cold frame and it grows particularly well in containers on a patio or balcony. I’ve even seen it growing in window boxes where not only did it look good, it was easy to harvest by simply leaning out of the window!

SOWING AND GROWING

Sowing can start in early February under cover and as long as you can provide frost protection, the seed will germinate without too many problems. When growing this way, I tend to sow in plug trays using multipurpose compost with two or three seeds per cell. If growing a hearted lettuce, once the seedlings are through, I’ll thin to a single plant, but if the lettuce is a loose-leaf type, I’ll allow all the seedlings to grow as a clump.

Once the seedlings are about 5cm (2in) tall they can be popped out the cells and planted into a greenhouse or polytunnel to carry on growing. Plug-raised seedlings can also be planted out into the garden from April onwards, or earlier if you live in a mild area and to give these young plants a head start it’s worth covering them over with fleece or a cloche.