Lettuce is an amazing crop. You can plant it just about anywhere. If you have a problem with pests who enjoy feasting on your crops you can use an all natural pesticide like food grade diatomaceous earth which is made of ground fossils. It can be safely and simply used indoors or out. Some even use it as an all natural de-wormer for pets. It works very easily with just a sprinkle around the plants that have bugs or ones that you are preventing from pests.
If you are short on time and space and do not have the room or yard to plant lettuce outside you can simply grow it indoors in containers. It is one of the few plants that doesn’t need much soil. If you have a short wide container that works best. Something like the old dish washing plastics work great or anything you have about that size.
The simplest way to do it is by scattering your seeds onto organic food grade soil, then top with a light layer of organic soil. Water it good, and await your beautiful bounty.
You can start enjoying your lettuce right away. Mine took only a couple of weeks. We just snip off what we want to eat with scissors leaving some of the plant intact. This will allow it to continue to grow.
We have found that if you sow the seeds in thick patches it keeps weeds from your plants. Once your lettuce is large enough to eat we thin them out. This will keep your crops growing larger with more to harvest all year long.
If you haven’t thinned seeds out before it is real easy. You just reach in where the plants are crowded and pull out the ones that are over crowding. Typically the next day the plants near will take over the empty spaces. The more space you provide them the larger the lettuce will grow, which just means more greens for you and your family.
If you get more ambitious or want a large yield you can do a 4 x 4 raised bed. We did these this year and will be reporting on the garden beds as they grow documenting the steps we took and the growing harvest.
We planted several types of organic lettuce this year. We have found we are saving a great deal now that we have lettuce crops maturing. If you say that your not spending on organic lettuce greens now then this is a great opportunity to begin. You will be surprised at how much you will eat when you have it near by and it is convenient. Not only is the lettuce super nutritious and delicious, but sweet and fresh. We don’t have to go spend fuel to pick it up, or waste packaging and bags to buy it. The lettuce awaits us anytime we want it and doesn’t spoil just continues to grow. Growing it has been very inexpensive the organic seeds under $2 and a large bag of organic soil is all it takes to get started, which ended up being less then buying lettuce in the store for 1-2 servings.
You will be doing your body good by providing this amazing alkaline food combating and neutralizing the acid and free radicals. You will also be very surprised at how good organic spring mix lettuce tastes when you are growing your own. You will feel great and be feeding your body with important greens intact with amazing nutrients. They are incredibly energizing. If you ever get to a point where you have more then you can consume you can simply chop them and add them to meals, use as a topping, you can juice them or add them to a smoothie for added nutrition.
You will find the highest concentration of dense nutrients in all lettuce varieties outside of the iceberg type lettuce. Unfortunately, iceberg lettuce has little to no nutritional value and should be avoided. All lettuce is naturally a low calorie food rich in antioxidants and super alkaline.
If you get daring you can try all different organic varieties of lettuce and will be amazed at the different types available and all the various flavors each individual type bring. We love radicchio, arugula, endive, orach, mizuna, kale, mustard and more. The different lettuces range in taste and personality from sweet to bitter to hot and tangy depending on the type you most enjoy. We enjoy mixing them for a nice array of taste and texture. They are also really pretty on the plate and as you watch them grow.
Note:
The only thing that you will have to watch for is the lettuce getting over heated if it is outdoors. Lettuce in too hot of conditions without proper water can leave your crop tasting unpleasant. The best conditions for the lettuce are either indoors or outdoors in a partly shaded spot. Lettuce can tolerate the heat in the shaded areas much better then in the beating sun all day.
If you are growing them in containers you can move them in the sun for added growth. We put the bins on a rolling base which allows us an easy way to get them in and out simply when we want to dose them with sunlight.
Lettuce is amazingly quite cold hardy and can survive low temps. Typically in low temps or light frosts the lettuce will thaw out once it is hit by the sun. When the conditions get too cold (30’s) we have used an old bed sheet draped over the plants to give them a layer of protection.
Hopefully your questions have been answered, and if not, be sure to post them here on the site or feel to email them to us at:
attractingwellness@gmail.com
and we will gladly answer them right away to help you in any way that we can get your lettuce off to a productive start.
Time Frame
If you sow your seeds today, you can be eating your delicious organic lettuce in less then one month. The typical turn around time you can expect is 30 days or less.
