Grow lettuce from your own seeds
Growing your own lettuce is most exciting when you grow the lettuce from seeds you have collected yourself. To do this, just shoot your lettuce in the previous year and develop a flower. You can then collect the seeds in autumn. Store them in a dry, dark and cool place.
From February you can give preference to early varieties on the windowsill.
How to proceed with the sowing:
- Fill your growing bowls three quarters full with soil.
- Moisten the earth.
- Put a pinch of seeds per bowl on the soil.
- Cover the seeds with some soil, about 0.5cm thick.
- Carefully spray or water the soil.
- Find a light location that is not too warm for your growing dishes.
- If you cover your bowls with foil, you will ensure even germination and sufficient moisture. Caution: remove the foil as soon as the seeds germinate so as not to hinder their growth.
also read
- Sow lettuce in the pot and care for it
- Sow lettuce: Directly outdoors or in seed trays
- Grow lettuce on the balcony
If you have a mini greenhouse (€ 6.96 at Amazon *) for the windowsill or if you would like to create one yourself, you can plant your lettuce seeds in it and thus ensure even moisture and heat.
Prick the lettuce
The seedlings can be pricked out seven to ten days after sowing. To do this, remove the excess plantlets until only one or two plants are left per seed tray. The seedlings that you remove can either be eaten or placed in other planters.
Plant out the lettuce
After the ice saints, when no more frost is to be expected, your young lettuce can move outdoors:
- Loosen the soil and add a little compost to it.
- Plant your young plants at a distance of about 25cm in the ground.
- Do not set the plants too deep!
- Water on the freshly planted lettuce.
Tips
Alternatively, you can sow your lettuce directly outside. This should also only be done after the Ice Saints to prevent the young plants from freezing to death.
