Growing lettuces

You can grow those lovely crunchy fancy leaf lettuces in any outdoor container. Lettuces have shallow clumpy roots so you can use shallow troughs or small pots. Just make sure there are drainage holes in the bottom.

You will need:

• A suitable sized pot say 20-30cm, or a trough 15 cm wide and from 40 cm long
• Potting mix (available from supermarkets, hardware stores or garden centres)
• A punnet of 6 lettuce plants (Some places sell a punnet of mixed plants so you get some green and some red – some with smooth leaves and some with curly leaves).

Fill the container with potting mix.

Set each plant about 8cm apart in your container.

Water the plants well after planting, then continue keep the soil damp but not soggy, and watch your lettuces grow.

If you want to grow your lettuces from seed, sprinkle some of the seeds from the packet on top of fine potting mix. When they are about 2cm high, transplant some so that the remaining plants are about 8cm apart.

You can grow lettuces all the year round in parts of New Zealand as long as you have a warm sheltered spot (or even inside) in the cooler months.  Check out the local situation where you live.