Growing Lettuce In Containers At Home

Growing lettuce in containers at home is really easy - we'll run you through how to make a container salad garden that'll fit in even a tiny outdoor space!

If you want to start growing your own food at home then lettuce plants or salad leaves are a great crop to start with.

They're easy to grow, you'll need very little space and can set up a little lettuce in containers and salad garden pots in a small garden, back yard, balcony or even sunny windowsill or steps up to your home.

There's something that feels just so good about picking homegrown salad leaves to go with dinner. It's amazing, it really connects you with what you're eating.

We'll go the basics of setting up a container salad garden and all you'll need is a couple of packs of seeds and a few plant pots or containers and you'll be able to grow salad leaves for most of the year.

The best thing about growing salad leaves at home is that they regrow whenever you cut them. So they're super easy to take care of and they're packed with fresh flavor.

What You'll Need For Growing Lettuce In Containers At Home

You'll only need a few things to get started with growing lettuce in containers and staring your container gardening journey!

• Plant Pots - you can use window boxes, small troughs, grow bags, even up-cycled junk like coffee tins or juice cartons. We grow ours in this little walk-in green house here.

• Compost - head off to the local garden centre and pick up some compost or potting soil that's great for salad plants and vegetables.

• Young lettuce plants - for an instant garden if you want your salad leaves to have a head start and your pots look full.

• Packets of different salad and lettuce seeds - so that you can keep your salad growing all year around.

Salad Leaves We Recommend Growing

We recommend growing a good mix of salad lettuce variety so that you can throw together a nice peppery salad leaf mix or lovely Italian salad leaves to go alongside your dinner.

• corn salad
• rocket (arugula)
• mizuna
• lollo rossa
• head lettuce (butterhead lettuce)
• romaine lettuce
• iceberg lettuce
• loose-leaf lettuce

I also like to add in a few herbs - to toss in baby leaf salad, try any below. I also add in a few pots of tumbler tomatoes as they grow well together with the lettuce.

• chives
• flat leaf parsley
• coriander

Growing Lettuce In Containers - How To Make Your Container Salad Garden

It's super easy to make a container salad garden and grow salad leaves at home - literally just an hours work!

How To Grow Lettuce In Pots

• Prepare the plant pots - if re-using old ones, wash them out with hot soapy water and rinse them first. Make sure they have plenty of drainage holes in the bottom. Lettuce plants don't like to be waterlogged, so it's important that there is adequate drainage and excess water can drain away.
• Try to place your lettuce containers in an area that gets direct sunlight. Lettuce plants like to have 6-8 hours of sunlight a day. We usually sow outdoors from March onwards after the last frost.
• Fill all the pots with compost or potting soil - choose one that's good for growing food.

• Plant any young salad plants or seedlings and sow seeds amongst them - we usually scatter a few salad seeds in around the young lettuce plants to ensure a continual supply of fresh salad leaves. We keep a seed packet of lettuce seeds to hand and scatter fresh seeds every week.

• It's a good idea to add some small tomato plants in amongst the salad leaves too. Choose a baby tomato variety.

• Sprinkle with water regularly especially in warm sunny weather. Lettuce plants do well with regular plant food and fertilizer to help them grow.

How Long Does It Take Lettuce To Grow

Growing lettuce in containers really depends on the weather, and it grows faster in warmer weather. But you can expect loose-leaf lettuce to be ready to pick in just 4-6 weeks! So constant harvesting, and sprinkling new seeds will keep you running with a good supply of lettuce.

How To Harvest Lettuce

When growing lettuce in containers we usually harvest when the lettuce leaves are still tender ‘baby leaves’ and continue to scatter seeds every week throughout the summer to ensure a constant supply of baby salad.

You can pick them by hand, just taking hold of the base of the leaf and gently pulling, or you can snip the baby leaves off near the base of the plant with scissors. Any picked baby salad leaves should be stored in the refrigerator.

How To Stop Pests Like Snails And Slugs From Eating Growing Lettuce In Containers

Okay - the easiest and most natural method is to pick the slugs and snails off the salad garden by hand. You need to do this literally every morning and every night. Plus after there's been rain.

You can also try adding a circle of broken gravel or egg shells around the lettuce plants as slugs and snails don't like to slither over sharp surfaces. Alternatively try copper tape - this is easiest when growing lettuce in containers as it's easy to fix around container bases.

Get more garden inspiration here

More Tips For Growing Lettuce In Containers At Home

Baby lettuce leaves really are happy growing in any old pot or container so just use what you have and squeeze in a mini salad garden wherever you can.

If you’ve got young children why not try making a Cress Caterpillar together for a fab plant it, grow it, eat it project.

Get more home and garden tips here