For a long time I couldnt understand why people grow
By dianebulley
7 comments
Salad Leaves.
Rows of Lettuce were my thing on the allotment.
Having found them in supermarket Salads, I got more
interested in snipping off the odd leaf here and there.
Getting the seed from Thompson & Morgan, with the
assurance that it will grow in the winter on windowsills,
cold greenhouses and frames – I brought a bag of J.I.No 1 back from the GC to use as seed sowing compost.
Even fetched the label box from the greenhouse, as I would never remember ‘Oriental Mustard’ and the instructions to add them to salads, sandwiches and garnishes – stir fries seem a bit drastic.
Having thrown all the deeper plastic containers away, fool that I am, I bought some that looked deeper to create more space for the roots as trying to grow Radishes in seed tray was a disaster. On return home found the label in them. They are half size seed tray covers ! Oh well, we all make mistakes.
I made drainage holes in them. Found two fit well in a seed tray drip tray which fits on the kitchen window sill
where I can watch them grow.
Sowed just a few, very carefully, in the compost.
Enjoyed this bit of fun. Will sow some more later on to
get a continuous crop for my little plastic scissors.
8 Nov, 2017
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Comments
I think that's a better idea than buying whole plants or big bagfuls when there's only one of you. I wish you every success!
8 Nov, 2017
Growing something this time of year is very therapeutic
I find.
9 Nov, 2017
We all have to start someplace and better to start small. After enjoying a whole summer of fresh tomatoes and vegetables, I could never go back to the produce department. Now I'm going to rip up some more grass to grow even more next year.
9 Nov, 2017
Diane I have more success with the cut and grow lettuce bought in the little trays from the supermarket than I ever do with the ones I grow in either the garden or the greenhouse, I find I can keep them coming for weeks on end, just snip off when I need some so I buy a couple at a time and stand them on the shelf on the patio, through the winter I stand them in the g'house, I got fed up of wasting my time, energy and money on packets of seeds to then have to go out and buy anyway because mine didn't grow...I hope you do well with yours, good for you, as you say its all fun and keeps your hand in now you cannot have your allotment any longer...
9 Nov, 2017
Thank you everyone. Good thinking Bathgate.
We can learn a lot from the walled gardens the aristocrats
had years ago, some even do now. Worth prowling around to see what their gardeners are growing nowadays.
If plants can be shielded from strong winds I am sure they will thrive. We go indoors at teatime, but the winds still keep blowing all night !
10 Nov, 2017
Continuing with this experiment I Googled Oriental Mustard Salad Leaves, found huge beds of them growing in Cornwall in the summer. Seems my larger containers are better for the root length, the ones in the big beds would only fall over in seed trays.
As they are now leaning at 180 deg.angle towards Corby I have lifted them off the window sill for overnight growing under my daylight lighting fitment over the kitchen table.
All good fun now we are really into winter.
Will have a look at other varieties of Salad Leaves in the
Thompson & Morgan catalogue.
12 Nov, 2017
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well lots of fresh salad leaves etd for you Diane. My kitchen windowsill has flowering plants on it.
8 Nov, 2017