Growing salads for Sale



How to Grow Salads You can grow your own mixed salads very easily and quickly, you only have to sow and wait for the leaves to be big enough to pick. Salads can be grown in the smallest of spaces, you do not even need a garden: a windowbox, patio container or a small raised beds are all perfect. There is a whole range of leafy plants, besides lettuce, which you can grow to vary the mix each time you pick an instant salad. It is easiest to start off with a packet of mixed leaf salad seed but you could also buy separate packets of different salad plants. Given the range and ease with which most grow, the thing to aim for is continuous crops through many months. If you have a glass or plastic cloche to give protection this can start in spring - or even earlier in a greenhouse.

Packet of mixed salad seed e.g. "saladini" container (at least 30 cm diameter and at least 15cm deep with drainage holes); couple of handfuls of gravel or large stones; multi-purpose compost. Raised beds can be filled with a mixture of topsoil and multi-purpose compost.

Fill the container first with a layer of gravel then with compost. Leave a gap of at least 3 cm between the surface of the compost and the rim of the container, firm down gently. Water the compost so it is moist all the way through. Scatter the seed thinly over the surface of the compost, leave about 1 - 2 cm between seeds. Cover with a 1 cm deep layer of compost (break it up with your fingers if it is lumpy). In a raised bed you could sow the seed into rows 10 - 15 cm apart.

You can sow little and often from March to July (earlier under glass protection). Ideally you should have another batch coming into production as soon as the previous one is exhausted. Early sowings are best in a sunny spot but later sowings are better in light shade. Water regularly to keep the seedlings growing strongly. Watch for slugs and snails and aphids - just remove them by hand. The best time to collect slugs is at night.

Pick individual leaves as required, start with the larger leaves from the outside to keep the plants small and encourage further young, tender leaves in the centre. Some plants you can "cut and come again" this means that they will regrow from the stump left when the leaves are cut. So, when the seedlings reach an average height of about 10 cm, cut the whole lot with a pair of scissors about 2 cm above the compost leaving the cut stump. Apply a high nitrogen liquid feed and keep the plants well watered. Within 3 or 4 weeks a flush of new leaves will grow from the cut stumps.

Sow salad crops where you grow or in seed trays.

Stagger crops - sow little and often, and harvest regularly.

Water your salad crops regularly for strong growth.

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