No Room For A Garden? Grow Your Salad Indoors
Let’s say you’re interested in giving this salad gardening a try. Maybe you don’t have a lot of space outside for a garden, or you’re just not that interested in digging up a big chunk of your lawn. The good news is you don’t have to. It doesn’t take a lot of space or soil to grow your own lettuce and you can do it inside, on your kitchen counter or in a sunny window. How fun is that!
The nice thing about lettuce is that most varieties don’t need a lot of space or soil to grow. They also tend to grow fairly fast. Lettuce also tends to grow well in temperatures that we’re most comfortable in at home. As long as you find a nice sunny spot for your lettuce it will do well.
One of the simplest ways to start is to cut of the ends of your romaine lettuce from the store and sit them in a cup or container with a little water. Leave it in there for about a week or until you start to see new green growth coming from the cut end, and roots forming at the bottom. Once those roots are about an inch or two long, plant your new lettuce plant into a bowl or small pot filled with potting soil. Keep it watered and in a sunny window and watch your lettuce grow. You can cut and regrow more lettuce several times.
Another fun option is to get lettuce seedlings at your local home and garden center. They will usually keep them stocked in the spring. Depending on your local growing season they may stock again in late summer or early fall. Again, just grab a pot or an old bowl, fill it with good potting soil and plant your lettuce. It won’t take long before it grows enough that you can start to harvest and enjoy.
Last but not least, you can grow any lettuce variety from seed. Take a look at the seed packets your local garden center has available year round, or order them online. Pay special attention to germination time (and temperature), and how long it will take your lettuce to grow to maturity.
It is also helpful to know if you can continually harvest your lettuce varieties or if you should let it grow to maturity, harvest, and then replant. Start with something that’s easy to grow and take care of, then branch out from there.
Once you see those first few harvests and get a chance to eat your own salad, you’ll be ready to expand your lettuce bowl collection. The taste will say it all.
Need some motivation to grown your own garden? Read this article here
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