Sow
Grow salad leaves in full sun, making sure the soil is well-drained.
They are particularly well suited to growing in containers, growbags or even in salad bowls. Just make sure whatever you use has drainage holes. You can also sow salad leaves in the garden.
Sow indoors from February. Sow outdoors from mid-spring to late summer, putting individual types of salad seed in rows, thinly at 1cm (½in) deep. Alternatively one of the easiest ways of sowing salad leaves is to simply sprinkle a mixture of seed (most garden centres will sell packets of salad leaf mixes) lightly on the top of soil surface, then cover with about 1cm (½in) of compost.
As the seed grows, thin out some seedlings by removing with your thumb and forefinger. This gives more room for plants to develop. You can use the thinned seedlings in salads.
You will usually be able to cut the salad leaves three or four times, so the secret to having salad leaves all summer is to sow several times, about a fortnight apart. So once you finish with one crop, you can start the next.
Grow
Water when the soil is dry, preferably in the early morning.
Common problems
Slugs and snails
Remedy
There are many ways to control slugs and snails, including beer traps, sawdust or eggshell barriers, copper tape and biocontrols.
More info on Slugs and snails
Grey mould
Remedy
Remove damaged plant parts before they can become infected. Cut out infected areas into healthy tissue and clear up infected debris. In greenhouses, reduce humidity by ventilating and avoid overcrowding of young plants and seedlings.
More info on Grey mould
Lettuce root aphid
Remedy
The damage is worse in dry conditions, so keep lettuce well-watered. If you suspect root aphid and only have a few lettuces, you can pull them up, wash off the aphids and replant in fresh compost. Otherwise, there is not much you can do, except pull up any affected plants and destroy them. Prevention is the best cure, so cover lettuces with insect-proof mesh (like Enviromesh) from June until August as this will prevent aphids getting to the roots. Some lettuces are resistant to root aphid.
More info on Lettuce root aphid
Harvesting
Start cutting the salad leaves when the plants reach about 10cm (4in) high. Clip the leaves with scissors, and the plants will re-grow and can be trimmed several times.
Harvest leaves just before you want to eat them, or store in the fridge in a polythene bag for a couple of days.
Varieties
Mustard:Quick and easy to grow mixtures, usually grown in a pot under cover to harvest as baby leaves to use in a salad, or as a dressing for sandwiches like cress.
Rocket:Has a distinctive peppery taste. In hot weather, leaves can become tough and coarse, so keep on top of cutting.
Lamb's Lettuce:Spoon shaped, dark green leaves with distinctive tangy flavour. Used raw in salads, or stewed as a veg. Grows like spinach and has many other names.
Mizuna:Fast growing glossy leaved salad crop. Can be harvested over a long season as a "cut and come again" crop. There is also an unusual purple stemmed variety.
Land Cress:Tips can be harvesed in just 15/20 days after germination, but needs 45/50 days to reach maturity. Usefull all year round salad plant with a crunchy texture and slightly spicy watercress flavour, but much easier to grow than watercress.
Buy mizuna seed
