Lettuce on the windowsil

There’s nothing more rewarding than growing your own food.  And there’s very little that’s more nutritional to buy than to grow yourself.  Nutrients in food are at their highest when the food was growing one minute and on your plate the next!

You don’t need a huge garden to grow food.  Basil can be grown on your windowsill, or if you have a really tall window you may be able to grow 1 or 2 tomato plants, or perhaps parsley in a window box?  But probably the most rewarding in a small space is lettuce.  Homegrown fresh lettuce tastes a zillion times better than cellophane-wrapped, chemical laden, watery lettuce…and it’s so easy to grow…

-    Buy a window box, or improvise with a strong container that lets water seep through and is about 6 inches high e.g. an old wooden box that shops get apples in, a blue chip that mushrooms sometimes come in, an old kitchen basin with a few holes in the bottom?
-    Fill it with soil, or potting compost if there’s absolutely no soil about (or a mixture of the 2).  Press it down firmly with your hands.
-    Make ½ inch deep ‘dips’ with your finger, about 6 inches apart.
-    Put 3-6 seeds in each hole.  Use ‘Cut and Come again’ Lettuce varieties available from supermarkets, vegetable shops or garden centres.
-    Sprinkle very fine soil or potting compost over the seeds.  Press down again with your hands.
-    Water well.  The first watering needs to be done slowly and carefully, to allow the air bubbles to come out and to ensure that the soil is soaked through, but without disrupting the seeds.
-    Place the container on a tray (to catch the draining water) in a warm place until the first growth appears.  Then place them somewhere with a lot of light or else they will grow long and thin.
-    Place them outside on the windowsill when they look like they are developing well!
-    Water every 2 or 3 days ensuring the soil doesn’t dry out.
-    When they have grown into little lettuces you can break off the leaves one at a time from the base of the plant.  As soon as you cut…they will come again!

This is a long-winded description of how to do something really simple!  Growing things is soooo easy…Don’t be scared to grow…Just give it a go!!