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How to grow Salad leaves in the UK

Cut-and-come-again lettuce: snip leaves and they grow back.

• DifficultyEasy peasy
• WhereBeds or Pots
• Grows to20cm
• Spacing10cm
• Time to first pickabout 6 weeks

When to sow, plant and harvest salad leaves

Dates are for central England. Sow about two weeks later in the north and Scotland, and up to two weeks earlier in the south and south west. Get the dates for your postcode.

Starting it indoors

1. Fill a small pot or tray with seed compost
2. Push the seeds in (1cm deep) - a couple per pot
3. Water gently, then put them on a bright windowsill
4. Keep the compost damp but not soggy - check it every day
5. When they have 2 proper leaves, give each seedling its own pot

Sowing it outdoors

1. Pull out any weeds and rake the top of your bed until it's crumbly, like cake crumbs
2. Make a little line in the soil (1cm deep) with your finger or a stick
3. Drop the seeds in, about 10cm apart in the row, with rows 20cm apart
4. Gently cover them with soil and pat it down
5. Water with a watering can that has a sprinkler head
6. Push in a label so you remember what's there

Planting it out

1. Toughen them up ('hardening off'): put them outside in the day for a week, bring them in at night
2. Dig a hole a bit bigger than the pot
3. Tip the plant out gently, holding the leaves, not the stem
4. Pop it in the hole, firm the soil around it, and water well
5. Space the plants about 10cm apart in the row, with rows 20cm apart

Top tips for growing salad leaves

• Pick a mixed 'cut and come again' seed packet.
• Slugs love lettuce - check under leaves .

Looking after salad leaves

• Week 3: Watch for slugs - go out at dusk with a torch and move them far away

Soil and feeding

Moist soil with plenty of compost. Leafy crops like steady water and a bit of goodness. Compost plus a sprinkle of chicken manure pellets is plenty.

Pests and problems

• Slugs & snails: munch seedlings overnight, worst in wet weather
• Blackbirds & sparrows: peck seedlings, pull out onion sets and steal ripe fruit

• Go on a slug hunt at dusk with a torch and move them far away
• Sink a jam jar into the soil with a little beer in it - slugs fall in
• Cut the bottom off a plastic bottle and pop it over each young plant, like a mini greenhouse

Harvesting and eating salad leaves

Snip the outside leaves with scissors, 3cm above the ground. Leave the middle to keep growing.

How to eat them: Wash, dry and toss with a little oil and lemon for your own salad.

Storing salad leaves

Keeps 3-5 days.

• Pick in the cool morning
• Wash, dry gently, and keep in a bag in the fridge with a piece of kitchen paper

Don't freeze - it goes slimy. Just pick what you need each day.

Good varieties of salad leaves

• Salad Bowl: Frilly leaves to cut again and again - slow to run to seed.
• Little Gem: Small, sweet, crunchy hearts.
• Lollo Rosso: Frilly red leaves - pretty in a salad.
• Tom Thumb: Tiny tennis-ball lettuces, great in pots.

Companion planting

Grows well with

• Strawberries: lettuce fills the gaps between strawberry plants
• Beetroot: quick lettuce fills gaps while beetroot grows
• Peas: lettuce likes a bit of shade from the peas in summer
• Leeks: lettuce grows quickly between young leeks
• Kale: lettuce grows quickly between young kale plants
• Calendula (pot marigold): brings hoverflies, whose babies eat greenfly
• Poached egg plant: brings hoverflies, whose babies eat greenfly
• Sweet alyssum: hoverflies that eat greenfly
• Dill: brings hoverflies that eat greenfly
• Coriander: let a few flower - hoverflies love them

Saving your own salad leaves seed

Summer, once a plant has flowered and the seed heads have dried.

1. Leave one or two of the best plants to flower (this is called 'bolting') - don't pick them
2. When the flower heads turn brown and dry, cut them on a dry day
3. Hold them upside down in a paper bag and shake - the seeds fall out
4. Pick out the bits of stalk and leave the seeds to dry for a week

Things to build for salad leaves

• Hoop tunnel cover:
• Bottle cloches:
• Cold frame:

Where to buy salad leaves seeds

Thompson & Morgan · Suttons · Amazon

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Salad leaves questions

When should I sow salad leaves in the UK?

In the UK, sow salad leaves indoors from mid February to early April or outdoors from early April to early September. These dates suit central England; sow about two weeks later in the north and Scotland and up to two weeks earlier in the mild south and south west.

When do I plant out salad leaves?

Plant salad leaves out from early April to late May.

When can I pick salad leaves?

Salad leaves is ready from early May to late October. Snip the outside leaves with scissors, 3cm above the ground. Leave the middle to keep growing.

How long do salad leaves take to grow?

Roughly 6 weeks from sowing or planting until the first harvest.

Are salad leaves easy to grow?

Salad leaves are rated 'easy peasy' for beginners, and can be grown in the ground or a raised bed or in pots and containers.