The cost of constantly purchasing bags of salad leaves adds up over time, given their relatively high cost and short shelf-life. However, growing your own salad leaves eliminates these concerning drawbacks, giving you the freedom to harvest according to your needs. Plus, with the right techniques and timing, you can enjoy fresh salad leaves all year round.
Many salad leaves operate under the ‘cut–and–come–again’ principle, meaning you can harvest them repeatedly over an extended period. Variety in the types of salad leaves you grow can also supply you with a diverse array of colours, flavours and textures, conveniently adding freshness and spice to your salads.
Classic Salad Leaf Varieties
Growing a variety of a salad leaves ensures access to fresh, interesting salad components throughout the year. Here are some of the best and most popular ones, which are often found mixed together in seed packets by suppliers for convenience.
- Chinese Cabbage: This fast-growing crop, often marketed as Chinese leaves, can be ready for cutting in as little as 6 weeks.
- Corn Salad or Lamb’s Lettuce: Known for their hardy nature, they offer bright green, succulent leaves making it an excellent choice for winter and early spring salads.
- Endive: Typically blanched to decrease its bitter content.
- Land Cress or American Cress: A palatable watercress substitute, ready to consume within 7 to 8 weeks.
- Rocket: Easily cultivated, fast-maturing salad leaf. Late summer sowings continue cropping into winter if protected by cloches.
- Winter Purslane: This attractive winter salad is also known as claytonia or miner’s lettuce.
- Oriental Vegetables: Chinese mustard greens, chopsuey greens, Japanese mustard spinach (komatsuna), mibuna and mizuna and texel greens are all excellent examples that can be used in salads, stir-fries, and soups or lightly steamed [1].
What You’ll Need
To assist your salad leaves in a smooth growing process, you will need:
- Garden fork and spade
- Trowel
- Well-rotted farmyard manure
- General-purpose fertilizer
- Salad leaf seeds
- For container sowing: A container like a window box or pot, multipurpose compost, balanced liquid plant food
How to Grow Salad Leaves
Cultivation
Salad leaves thrive in an open, sunny position, but will also tolerate light shade. Before sowing, enhance the soil using organic matter to enrich its water-holding capacity and add a general granular plant food.
In small pots, window boxes, growing bags, or planters, salad leaves can be easily nurtured. Having some in containers on your windowsill ensures quick accessibility and provides an alternative when it’s too cold outside for growth.
Sowing
Salad leaves should be sown in short rows every fortnight to maintain a continuous crop. Sow seeds sparsely about 13mm (0.5in) deep, cover with soil and water sufficiently.
Care
The soil should always be moist, but not overwatered, to prevent plants from prematurely seeding (bolting) and losing their intense flavors. Thinning out seedlings when they’re about 2.5cm (1in) high can also be beneficial; consequently, the thinnings can be utilized in the kitchen.
Feeding plants every 3 weeks with a balanced liquid feed encourages swift growth that is both tender and flavorful.
Harvesting
Harvest leaves as needed once plants reach about 7.5-10cm (3-4in) in height. You can either pick individual leaves from the periphery of the plants or use scissors for a general harvest over the whole plant.
It’s recommended to harvest in the morning when the plants are at their peak freshness.
Pests and Diseases
Gardeners need to look out for grey mould/botrytis, slugs and snails, and lettuce root aphid—a common pest that can cause extensive damage in drier conditions.
To maintain good plant health, ensure a regular watering schedule, particularly during dry periods, and employ environmentally friendly methods of pest control wherever possible.
Key Features of Salad Leaves
- Foliage season(s): Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter
- Sunlight: Partial shade, Full sun
- Soil type: Clay, Loamy, Sandy
- Soil pH: Neutral
- Soil moisture: Moist but well-drained
- Ultimate height: Up to 30cm (12in)
- Ultimate spread: Up to 15cm (6in)
- Time to ultimate height: 4-10 weeks
Knowing when to plant your salad leaves can also contribute significantly to your gardening success.
Growing salads at home is not just a fruitful pastime, but a low-cost, environmentally friendly way to keep fresh, healthy food on your table. So get your hands dirty and let’s get growing!
