Throughout August we are sending our subscribers a gift that provides crops all year. We’ve included everything you need to grow lettuce on your very own windowsill. In your Windowsill Lettuce Kit, you will find a baby Lettuce plug plant, peat-free compost and cardboard planter.
Lettuce can be grown indoors at all times of the year. This means you can grow a constant supply for summer salads, or to add a layer to a sandwich for a winter lunch. Lettuces are very easy to grow and are even cheaper than buying from your local supermarket! Growing indoors will also help prevent any pests such as slugs or snails from getting to your crop.
How to grow lettuce on your windowsill:
- AS SOON AS YOU RECEIVE YOUR PARCEL, unwrap your baby lettuce plug plant and make sure it has sufficient water and light. You don't have to plant it up immediately, but the sooner you plant it in soil, the stronger it will be.
- Plant the baby lettuce in the cardboard planter so that the soil is level with the soil that are already surrounding the roots. If any of the soil has fallen away in transit, don't worry, just make sure all the roots are covered, but that the leaves are not below the level of the soil. Press the compost down gently around the lettuce so that it is sufficiently supported to stand up on its own.
- Keep the planter on a warm windowsill where it gets lots of bright, indirect sunlight. Lettuce can bolt (grow very 'leggy' if the temperature goes above 30 degrees Celsius, so if it is very warm, you might need to temporarily relocate it to somewhere cooler.
- Make sure the compost stays moist - that lovely balance of damp but not wet.
- From planting, it takes around 20-30 days for your lettuce to reach maturity however if you like larger leaves you may wish to wait longer. Harvest when the leaves have reached a good size. We advise you to harvest early in the morning and store leaves in the fridge on the day you want to eat them to stop the leaves from wilting in hot afternoon temperatures.
