Fresh greens are always in demand: who can resist a juicy salad with vegetables? Especially if the ingredients are grown right in your own backyard! Lettuce, which is quite easy to grow in the garden, can be the base for such a dish. However, sowing seeds alone isn't enough: you need to select the right soil, maintain water balance, and harvest the lettuce on time. Growing lettuce outdoors (planting and care)—that's what our latest publication is all about!
How to choose lettuce seeds?
You can choose any lettuce variety available at garden stores for sowing in your garden bed. However, before purchasing seeds, it's best to consult with neighbors who grow these greens: they can suggest which varieties thrive in your conditions.
The quality of the seeds is also very important. A packet may contain a large number of seeds, but if the seeds are old or weak, you won't get consistent germination. So, ideally, buy seeds not from resellers, but from gardeners who have turned their hobby into a profession. You can usually find contact information for gardening enthusiasts in gardening magazines.
If you're unsure about the seeds, treat them with a potassium permanganate solution before sowing to improve germination. It should be a weak solution, light pink in color. Place the seeds in the solution for 15 minutes: after this time, they're ready to be planted in the soil, fortified with potassium permanganate.
When can I sow lettuce?
Much depends on your climate and the weather conditions on your property. However, if you have greenhouseYou can sow lettuce seeds in it as early as February, along with radish, early carrot, and kohlrabi seeds. In just 50 days (that is, in early to mid-April), you'll be able to harvest your first greenhouse lettuce.
As for sowing lettuce in open ground, there's no need to delay either: you can sow the seeds as early as April, while the soil is still wet and there are no weeds in the garden bed.
Salad preferences
Any leafy plant (lettuce is no exception) needs access to sunlight. It's from sunlight that they receive the energy needed for leaf development. So, the ideal lettuce bed should be located in full sun or light shade. Lettuce sown in the shade will sprout and even develop roots, but you won't get juicy, crisp leaves.
Lettuce prefers loose soil. Therefore, it's important to dig over the bed you plan to sow in the spring in the fall. Before sowing, it's a good idea to fertilize the soil with compost or add mineral fertilizer (50 g per square meter of bed).
How to grow lettuce outdoors
1. Make furrows in the garden bed about 15 cm apart. The furrows should be shallow—3-4 cm is enough. Water the furrows so the soil is ready to receive the seeds and allow them to grow.
2. Scatter lettuce seeds (dry or wet – treated with potassium permanganate) into these depressions so that they are not placed too close to each other.
3. Cover the furrows with a thin layer of soil: first damp, then dry. Dry soil acts as mulch during seeding, preventing rapid moisture evaporation.
4. In a week or two (weather plays a key role here), lettuce seedlings will appear in the bed. When the plants have 3-4 leaves, thin out the furrows—pull out any excess plants, leaving only the strongest ones, spaced about 7 cm apart. If you don't thin out the furrows in time, the plants will grow stunted (they'll have to share all the nutrients from the soil).
5. Further care consists only of watering. Don't even think of watering the lettuce bed with a hose! Firstly, the stream will break the fragile leaves, and secondly, the cold water (which usually comes from a hose at the dacha) will make the lettuce leaves bitter. It's best to water the lettuce twice a week with a watering can: this will cause the leaves to bend slightly toward the ground without breaking them.
6. You can harvest lettuce when the plant has five leaves. However, if the plant has already sprouted a stalk (similar leaves, but raised on a tall stem), it's not worth picking for eating: it will have a bitter taste and contain minimal nutrients.
Now you know how to grow lettuce in your garden; it's generally not that difficult. Sun, water, and nutritious, light soil—that's all you need for the full development of this delicious plant!
It would also be useful to know, How to grow green peas in your garden.