How to Plant Lettuce in Pots
Lettuce is one of the easier vegetables to adapt to containers. You can buy lettuce seed at most nurseries and gardening areas of the bigger retailers. Select the variety your family likes most, such as iceberg, romaine or bibb. You can also buy mixed lettuce seeds that allow you to grow a gourmet salad mix in one container. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Planter
- Broken terra cotta pots or small rocks
- Tarp, 10 foot by 10 foot
- Potting soil
- Blended compost
- Coarse vermiculite
- Shovel
- Lettuce seed
- Peat moss
- Spray bottle
Instructions
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1
Fill the bottom of your planter with about 2 inches of broken terra cotta pots or small rocks to aid drainage.
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2
Spread the tarp out on a level area.
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3
Pour 2 cubic feet of potting soil, 2 cubic feet of blended compost and 1 cubic foot of coarse vermiculite into the middle of the tarp.
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4
Lift one corner of the tarp and pull it back over the pile of soil ingredients, rolling and mixing them, until the soil is within a foot of the edge of the tarp. Switch to another corner and repeat the pulling and mixing until all the soil ingredients are well mixed.
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5
Spray the soil with water until damp and small puddles begin to form.
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6
Shovel the soil into your planter and fill it until the soil is about 1 inch from the rim. Save the remainder of the soil for another planter or mix more soil as needed following the same procedure.
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7
Level the surface of the soil being careful not to compress it.
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8
Sprinkle the lettuce seeds over the surface of the soil. You should try to have approximately one seed for every square inch of soil surface.
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9
Break up any clumps in the peat moss, then sprinkle it lightly over the seeds, covering them with a very thin layer.
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Fill the spray bottle with room temperature tap water. Spray the water onto the soil surface until all the peat moss is damp. Stop spraying when small puddles begin to form.
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11
Water the lettuce plants when the top 1 inch of soil feels dry. If the planter is getting more than six hours of sun per day, move it to a shadier location.
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12
Harvest the lettuce when there are five or six leaves on a plant. Remove only the outer two or three leaves and the remaining plant will continue to grow. You can harvest leaves as they are available, usually every three or four days, for several weeks.
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Reseed areas where plants have matured and left bare soil. Drop three or four seeds onto the surface and sprinkle a thin layer of soil on top. Water as usual and the seeds should sprout in a few days.
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Tips & Warnings
For bottom fill in planters, you can use old broken dishes, leftover ceramic floor tiles or chunks of brick and concrete. Whichever you use, break it into small enough chunks to allow drainage.
Instead of using the tarp method to mix your soil, you can pour the ingredients into a wheelbarrow and mix them with a shovel.
Full sun will cause the plants to "bolt" or sprout in the center and produce seed. When a lettuce plant bolts, it usually becomes bitter.
When spraying the seeds the first time, be very careful not to spray enough water to cause puddles to form. The light lettuce seeds will float together and concentrate in just a few areas.
If the outdoor temperature is above 75 degrees, place the planter in an area which gets a half day of shade.
References
- Photo Credit Eriko Koga/Digital Vision/Getty Images
