How to grow lettuce in containers for fresh, easy harvests

Just a little space can yield leafy results.

A big salad is the easy way to fix dinner in the summer, but buying endless heads of lettuce at the grocery store gets pricey, especially when growing your own harvest at home is practically foolproof. And while growing lettuce might bring to mind visions of long rows sitting neatly in an idyllic kitchen garden, you can also grow your own lettuce in containers.

Whether you have a small patio or a barely there balcony, a single container just 12" wide is enough to grow a head of lettuce that can be harvested biweekly. Ready to start saving salad recipes? Here's exactly how to grow lettuce in a container at home.

Meet the Expert

• Tatiana Egorova is the co-owner of Flowers N Baskets in Palm Harbor, Florida.

Can You Grow Lettuce In Containers?

Because of its shallow root system, lettuce actually thrives in containers. As long as the container has a depth of at least 6" and a setup that enables the soil to stay moist, lettuce will have enough room to take root and grow.

Additionally, a benefit to growing lettuce in containers is that you can easily keep them out of the reach of deers, rabbits, and other hungry garden visitors.

Choose The Right Container Or Pot

While lettuce has shallow roots, it does require room for the actual head of lettuce and its leave to spread out. If you're planting one head of lettuce per container, a pot that's 12" wide and 6" deep is perfect. If you're planting multiple heads of lettuce within the same container, then each one will need 12" to ensure it has room to reach its mature size before harvest.

Look for pots or containers made from materials like terra cotta, stainless steel, or even wood.

How To Plant Lettuce In A Container

Planting lettuce in a container is easy, and you can start by sowing seeds or picking up young plants at your local nursery.

1. Fill a container with rich, well-drained, loose soil. Add fertilizer or compost.
2. Plant young lettuce plants or sow seeds. If you're sowing seeds, prepare to thin them out as the seedlings pop up. If you're starting with plants, make sure they're spaced 12" apart or planted within their own containers.
3. Place the container in full sun. However, once the hottest days of summer set in, make sure there is some afternoon shade available.
4. Keep the soil consistently moist. Do not let the soil dry out between watering.
5. Harvest the lettuce biweekly, allowing it to grow back in between harvests.

Should you grow lettuce from seed?

Whether or not you decide to grow lettuce from seed or buy young plants at the local nursery comes down to your willingness to sow the seeds and thin out the seedlings as necessary. Lettuce is known for being easy to grow, and lettuce seeds germinate within 10 days. Lettuce is ready to harvest within two months but, if you start with plants from a nursery, you're often a month ahead of the game.

Set Your Lettuce Up For Success

Planting lettuce in a container means recreating the ideal conditions you'd have in a garden bed and adding extra moisture since it won't naturally occur in the ground.

Sun

"The South's real enemy is heat bolting," says Tatiana Egorova, co-owner of Flowers N Baskets, who says she's had the best luck with wide, shallow, breathable terracotta pots. "Place them somewhere that gets afternoon shade, because direct afternoon sun will destroy a lettuce container fast.

Soil

Lettuce does best in slightly acidic to neutral soil that is rich and well-draining. You can add compost to help boost nutrients and retain moisture.

Water

Lettuce requires a lot of moisture to grow successfully. It doesn't want to dry out, and that can be tricky in a container where you can't leverage the moisture that's stored within the earth's soil. There's no shortcut short of an irrigation system. Instead, you have to commit to watering regularly. Egorova says, "The biggest difference from in-ground growing is moisture management. Containers dry out shockingly fast in our humidity-plus-heat combo. I water mine early morning, every single day in summer, rather than the every-few-days schedule you'd see in a ground bed."

When To Harvest Lettuce In A Container

Lettuce leaves should be harvested when they are at least three inches long, but before they grow stems. Once the stem is visible, it's a sign that the plant is about to bolt, and you're on borrowed time to harvest. If you harvest just the leaves, the plant will produce more leaves, and you'll be able to pick a new batch of salad-ready lettuce in just two weeks.

However, if you decide to harvest the entire head of lettuce, then you'll end the plant's growth. If you plan on planting a new round of lettuce right behind it, then that might be fine! But, if you were hoping to get a few harvests out of a single plant, then it's best to stick to the leaves.

Read the original article on Southern Living