Salad Leaves

GEEGEE8

olly300 wrote: »

I tend to use summer fruit punnets i.e. the ones that peaches, plums come in to grow mine in as they are square and quite shallow.

You can get ones with holes in that can fit with the ones without holes.

I actually have some of those too

How do you keep the soil? Always moist? Or slightly dry?

Summercherry

we grow salad leaves all year round on the window cill with these DIY self watering planters.
Make your own from a 4 litre milk carton, cut in half, make a hole in the top and poke through some cloth to act as as a wick. fill with compost , put seed on top. Insert into bottom half and pour water into bottom. Job done. Here's one i made earlier



Wow great idea! I live in a flat (with a small balcony) and would love to try and start growing veg etc. I also work in a cafe and go through about 20 of these milk bottles a day! Hmmm will need to take a big bag with me to work tomorrow!!!

Thanks for the Idea! :beer:

stilernin

Salad leaves are a great start for newbies to get the gardening bug (pardon the pun). A good return in the quantity of crop you get and almost foolproof.

A couple of tips...... be sparing when you sow the seed. Each plant needs a bit of elbow room to grow, so approx 1cm apart is about right. A common mistake is to use far too much seed and many die because their neighbours crowd them out. More money saving too.

Also, although salad leaves are great for windowsills, lettuce doesn't germinate readily in hot weather. Start it off away from direct sun and once you see green seedlings move into the warmer situation. This way you can sow the new generation every couple of weeks and it will be ready when the current tray is exhausted.

Don't keep the compost too wet when the seedlings are tiny, it will go green (algae) and the plants could rot. The more leaf the plant has (to lose water) the more it will need at the root.

I hope this helps newbies get really good results, I don't mean to preach to everyone who is experienced.

GEEGEE8

That is just the kind of advice I needed! Thank you

No seeds in the post today, want to get started now lol.

GEEGEE8

GEEGEE8

Seeds planted yesterday - started 'sprouting' already

DEBTMONKEY1A

Can just make them out in the middle??! Like you GEEGEE am new to it....planted some 'cut & come again' leaves outside in shalow-ish compost...took around six weeks to come up properly but FAB now...just take a few leaves from the outside of the plant & it regrows in days! Also my sister bought me some mixed lettuce plug plants-put them in shallow compost (will grow from seed next year!)...& I just take a few large leaves from outside...bingo in 3 days or so grown back! I'd say for the 2 of us we've now got fresh salad all summer..ulness they 'bolt' (go to seed & turn bitter) in extreme heat...but extreme heat doesn't happen too often at 500 foot up in the pennines (!!!).....if you have space for a couple of medium size pots on a sunny windowsill why not do chillis (for next year-you'll need to sow them in January indoors)...they look great & you have free chillis-saves a fortune-saw a pack of 4 hot scotch bonnet chillis in Tesco for £1-50!!!

rms1

I grow Rocket Leaves, they are quick and easy. You can expect to eat them just 4 weeks after sewing. We eat them like sweets so great for weight loss.

GEEGEE8

I don't like Rocket for some reason... I'm not a fusser eater at all.. shame as loads of people have said how easy it is to grow. I hoping these salad leaves will be just as easy.

Just ordered a windowsill propogetor from eBay, hopefully it'll help for the next batch as I have a feeling that I sprinkles the seeds to close together on this one. This thing I've ordered has separate sections, so I'll pop 1 seed in each.. Got 2000 in total from ebay lol.

Sorry for the photo lol - nothing much happening just yet, although I'll update when I have more going on. Some of the seeds have a white root that has popped out already, only after 24hrs. Got them in a dark place at the moment..

Chilli sounds awesome I'll have a look into that

GEEGEE8