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Overview
You can never have enough lettuce in summer, but sowing directly into the soil takes up valuable space in the garden. Keep a regular supply growing by sowing seeds in lengths of plastic guttering: short, 1m lengths are convenient and easy to handle. Fill with moist multipurpose compost. When the lettuce seeds germinate, you can grow them on for two to four weeks and then simply slide the plants into their growing positions as soon as space becomes available.
Do it:
March - August
At its best:
harvest from April to September
Takes just:
20 minutes
How to do it
-
Sprinkle a pinch of your salad seed along the length of the compost-filled guttering and lightly cover the seed with a thin layer of compost. -
Water the compost carefully and put the guttering in a greenhouse, cold frame or on a windowsill. The seeds should germinate after about a week and can be grown on for two to four weeks depending on the variety and time of year, before planting out. -
Your salad leaf seedlings will be ready to transplant when their roots fill the compost in the guttering. Use a garden trowel to make a wide, shallow drill in prepared soil and slide the seedlings in place. Water them in thoroughly.
"Water the young lettuce plants in the guttering before sliding them out into their final position. This reduces damage to their roots."
"Sow more seeds at two-week intervals to provide a continuous supply of leaves for salads."
