Grow Your Own Garden Fresh Salad

Is there anything better than a tasty refreshing salad for lunch on a hot summer day? There is, eating your own lettuce.

Fresh garden lettuce has a noticeably flavorful taste that you will never experience from an industrial farm grown lettuce. Growing your own lettuce does not involve a lot of work, and does not take up too much space in your garden.

The first step is deciding which type of salad to grow, and there are several types to choose from. The most common type of lettuce is Romaine which is often sold as Iceberg lettuce in supermarkets in the form of a tight pale green ball. There is also loose leaf lettuce, butterheard lettuce. For the average garden the best choice is romaine lettuce which requires the least maintenance and produces the crunchiest and most flavorful lettuce.

• Start by identifying a spot that receives maximum sun exposure during the morning and early afternoon but offers enough shade during the middle of the afternoon when the sun is at its hottest. Also be sure to plant your seeds only when the temperature at night is not likely to fall below 25 degrees, this of course depends on the area in which live in.
• The seeds should be planted approximately 1/2″ in the soil and should be sowed sparingly approximately 6″ apart in all directions.
• The soil should always be moist so be sure to water the soil every day but do not soak the soil. Also do not water the foliage as this can encourage leafed diseases.
• Do not let weeds grow around the lettuce. Because their roots are not planted very deep, other deep rooted weeds such as dandelions will uproot the lettuce roots.
• Do not use herbicides or pesticides as the lettuce will soak up these harmful substances. Instead uproot the weeds manually.
• To avoid lettuce slugs use mulch in the soil.
• Romaine lettuce will mature in approximately 10 to 11 weeks after the seeds have been sown. To have fresh salad all summer long sow seed once every two weeks.