How to Grow Lettuce in a Patio Container

In my house we eat lettuce almost every day. Buying lettuce every day is expensive and time consuming. When you grow it yourself, it tastes so much better than store bought. Last year, I decided to try to grow lettuce in containers on my patio. It was a success!

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

1. 

   Buy at least 3 pots for growing your lettuce.

2. 

   Choose which type of lettuce you want to grow. Loose leaf type lettuce is the easiest to grow. Loose leaf type lettuce will keep providing you leaves throughout most of the season.

3. 

   Plant your lettuce seeds as soon as your area is frost free. Plant seeds in first pot, wait 2 weeks, plant seeds in second pot, wait 2 weeks plant seeds in third pot and so on. This method will give you continuous lettuce through the season and into the fall.

4. 

   Place pots in an area where they will get at least 4 hours of sunlight per day.

5. 

   Water lettuce plants daily, unless of course you've had rain.

6. 

   To pick your lettuce, pinch off outermost leaves as needed or cut your entire plant down to about an inch. The plant will grow back. Head type lettuce cannot be picked until the whole head has matured. To harvest, cut it down even with the soil.

Tips & Warnings

• New lettuce can be planted as late as the beginning of August

• Do NOT use chemical insecticides or pesticides.

• Use care with fertilizer.