Lettuce in pots

Lettuce in pots - planted on 22 May 2011.

The idea of growing lettuce in pots came to me from a Bulgarian gardening friend. He gave me a pot of lettuce as a present one day, just dug it up from the garden bed. It seems to be working well. The seedlings get the best nutrients straight to their roots due to the compost contained in the small pot. Their roots can venture out through the draining holes if they need more space.

I thought about cutting out the bottom of the pot to give the plant better access to the soil outside the pot, but I did not want to go that far. I want to reuse the pots until the plastic gives up. Therefore the pots were left as they came to me.

Lettuce in pots - 3 July 2011

The lettuces have grown well in the past weeks. It has been six weeks since I planted them or at least since I took the photo above. We harvested three decent salads so far. I simply picked the outside leaves, gave them a thorough wash, included a capsicum that was ready to be picked too and we could eat the most delicious salad.

The second generation lettuce was seeded when I planted the first lot. It was ready today to be planted out and again I used old pots to give them a good start in best home made compost.

There is a variety of salads, simply seeded from a mixed lettuce seedlot, not sure whether they are heirloom varieties. The next lot would be ready to go, but I though these will do me for the next weeks and I decided to seed other plants, just not sure which ones. Will consult the plant calender and wait for the moon to change.

It has been a while since I have written the last post, my kitchen ceiling was replaced and demanded a more comprehensive paint job not only of the ceiling but of the whole kitchen. It has been completed and the place is ready for us to move in. It felt great to paint and to see the bright new colour reflect the light. The garden had to suffer, but things happened that I will write about soon, such as the arrival of a new water tank and of two transplanted fruit trees, the digging out of several root systems of a lilac tree and more. Watch this space.

Lettuces - 27 September 2011

Lettuces starting to seed
after 50 meals we ate just picking the leaves!
10 October 2011