Growing Salad Leaves In Guttering

A couple of tips for growing lettuce in gutters.

Growing salad leaves in guttering.

Make sure soil is at least 45 degrees and you have to keep the soil moist pretty much the entire growing season. If you re growing larger leaves for use in a mixed salad. By bbc gardeners world magazine. Space leaf lettuce every 4 inches loose headed varieties every 8 inches and firm headed.

Monday 27 may 2019 at 10 56 am. In this way you can mix your own salad to your own preference without losing any additional crop. They are particularly well suited to growing in containers growbags or even in salad bowls. These days many containers are used to grow flowers herbs and vegetables including some for gutter garden ideas.

Just make sure whatever you use has drainage holes. Use a separate pot for peas or sow small patches of each crop in large containers or growing bags. Being in a gutter the soil will dry out faster and the temperature will fluctuate in larger increments. A table displaying which months are best to sow plant and harvest.

The result would be that the mixture composition will change over time where the leaves that remain will become unbalanced. No one knows who originated the idea of growing shallow rooted plants in a prepared gutter but it is a worthwhile undertaking. Grow salad leaves in full sun making sure the soil is well drained. Sowing seed of salad leaves in lengths of guttering can help keep your seedlings safe from slugs and snails and enable you to transplant the whole row into the soil as and when soil space becomes available.

Even a 25cm 10in pot can give the equivalent of several supermarket bags of salad leaves. It is easier to take care of but you do need to look at it daily. Sow outdoors from mid spring to late summer putting. Find out how to grow salad leaves in guttering in our video guide.

Watch our step by step video showing how to grow and harvest salad leaves with expert advice and top tips to help you complete the job with confidence. You can also sow salad leaves in the garden. Sow indoors from february. It is best when growing mixes to find which salad leaves you like and then grow them individually in separate pots.

Container or growing bag almost any container will do provided it is more than 15cm 6in deep and has good drainage holes. Measure and mark for plant spacing from either end of the gutter with a tape measure and pencil. Guttering is cheap and widely available can be cut to whatever length you choose and contains just the right amount of soil. When the salad seeds germinate simply grow them on for two to four weeks and then slide the plants into their final.