Tips for Growing Lettuces and Salad Mix

Michelle | April 21st, 2012

Growing lettuce and salad mix is fairly simple and can be done in small spaces, including pots. Right now I am growing a mix in a fairly small pot. If only the robins would leave it alone, I suspect I’ll be able to harvest in the next few weeks! I also spent time growing salad mix for a market garden operation.

Lettuces and greens growing on my porch

Keep the following in mind when planning and planting your lettuce bed:

Lettuces and greens are cool weather crops. They tend to bolt (go to seed) much more quickly in high heat and direct sun. Both do well in semi-shade or even mostly shade and certainly prefer spring and fall weather.

The easiest way to manage a variety of lettuces and greens for a salad mix are in swaths of separate varieties in six inch rows separated by enough room for a stirrup hoe (available in three and six inch widths). Weeds are much easier to both see and remove with this layout and harvesting is simpler due to a more consistent size in the lettuces. Another benefit of keeping the two separate is during harvest when a desired balance between the two tastes can be measured.

Maintenance includes weeding, watering, successive sowing, and weekly harvesting. Weeding is a particular concern, as weeds in the final product are undesirable (if for sale) and can sneak their way into a mix. It is also a meticulous process since the lettuces are very fragile and shallow rooted. On the other hand, many weeds are wild edibles and add nutrition, flavor and interest to the mix. Just make sure you know what you are harvesting!

Some wild edibles that are great in a salad mix include chickweed, amaranth, wild chives, and violet leaves.

Lettuce and green seeds can be sown on a rotational schedule to extend the season. This is called successive planting. They generally do best in spring and fall. If you create a cool microclimate (for instance in a food forest), then the summer is fair game too.

5 Steps to Growing Lettuces & Salad Mix

Michelle | April 18th, 2012

Growing lettuce and salad mix is very easy and can be done in the smallest of spaces. It is also a great crop to grow fresh since the shelf life is quite short. It is also a fairly high demand vegetable for restaurants, making it a possible cash crop for small growers and permaculturists. Check out these 5 steps to growing lettuce below:

1) The first thing to do is find seeds! Some factors you may want to consider when purchasing lettuce and green seeds include: cost; organic or heirloom status; color and flavor of greens; local adaptability; and best growing season for different varieties. If your climate tends to be hot or the spot where you will grow the lettuce is direct sun, look for “slow to bolt” varieties for best results.

There are also pre-made mixes available, though these have a few drawbacks. First is that brassicas and lettuces are easiest to manage when they are separated. Brassicas have specific pest problems that lettuces do not have and the germination and growing times of each are different. When cutting for a salad mix, it is best to cut the whole swath and so if you have some short lettuces and some taller, it will be difficult to do.

2) Prepare the soil as for any other seed, with the exception of adding additional organic matter (this is not necessary since the lettuces are harvested when young). It is good practice to make sure there are not rocks or coarse debris on the soil surface.

3) Sow the seeds evenly, pat down and cover with a very thin layer of soil. This should then be “watered in” with a light misting hose or watering can.

To grow lettuces that will be allowed to grow to full size, prepare the soil as above but rather than spreading the seed, sow just a few seeds per hole.

4) Watering twice a day is generally needed, though good practice is to check the soil. When watering, it is best to do it early in the morning or in the evening. Also be cautious about watering the leaves, they are more prone to burning when wet so water low.

5) Harvesting happens when the leaves seem big enough to eat. To have repeat harvests, be sure to harvest above the growth point. Cut and grow lettuces generally can be harvested 3 times before the nutrients and quality begins to go down.

Green Deer Tongue, Strela green, and Black-seeded Simpson varieties of lettuce grown by me for market. Note the space left between varieties for a small stirrup hoe to make for easier weed management.

Be sure to read Tips for Growing Lettuces and Salad Mix!

Food4Wealth Review: Less Work, More Food with the Ecological Garden

Michelle | April 15th, 2012

Personally, I have had lots of fun growing food and herbs. I have also spent many hard, sweaty hours pulling weeds and preparing beds. Eventually, I managed to develop garden beds that perform similarly to a Food4Wealth bed; however, this was after obtaining a Master’s degree in Sustainable Systems, working in a market garden, founding a public food forest and having a few gardens of my own. I have been telling more conventional gardeners for years of the benefits and need for compost, the ease of building a bed using sheet mulching, etc. with little effect. I really believe that the way this same knowledge is presented in Food4Wealth could help people save time, grow more food and work less hard by partnering with Mother Nature. For the already experienced gardener who may follow some natural practices but still find yourself spending more time watering and maintaining than you want to, Food4Wealth may offer the knowledge needed to close the loop in your system.

Is the Food4Wealth system real?

Yes, the Food4Wealth system is real. It is basically an instructional book and video series on how to create an ecological garden. So, a lot of the stuff we talk about with permaculture but distilled down to an easy to follow system. I see it as an opportunity for people that I know who year after year till and spend lots of time and energy “keeping up” with their garden, only to eventually turn to chemicals out of necessity or stop gardening. I am really excited about the ebook because growing food this way can be a complex subject, totally foreign to more traditional gardeners (even organic) and this makes it understandable and easy to implement.

Review of Content

The content in the Food4Wealth system combines elements of permaculture, natural farming, SPIN farming, organic gardening, lasagna gardening and 4 seasons gardening to create an edible, ecological garden. It was written by Jonathan White, an environmental scientist and horticulturist with years of experience creating small, high yield, ecological gardens. I really appreciate Jonathan’s down-to-Earth and easy to understand presentation of the ecological garden.

It includes principles of permaculture, such as soil building, and natural farming, allowing certain crop to go to seed. The beds are also made using sheet mulching techniques, along with making and using quite a bit of compost. The content also goes into propagating from seed and why to choose certain types of seed. The practice of allowing the most robust of the species to seed next year’s crop is a foundational principle. Basically it is a step-by-step instructional manual on how to create a garden that mimics natural processes. I was a bit disappointed that 1) we didn’t get a visual tour of Jonathan’s gardens and 2) there were not more how-to demonstrations on the videos. There are a few but it seems like the videos would really be useful if all demonstration-based.

The e-book and videos include sections on:

• Garden design and construction
• Composting
• Planting and propagation
• Care and maintenance of the garden
• Best plants for this type of garden
• Seasonal considerations
• Growing fruits using this system
• Climate change
• How to deal with weeds
• Selecting seeds, including differences between heirloom, gm, etc.

What is included in your purchase?

The product consists of a 98 page e-book, a complete project plan, 14 video lessons and an audio book. I found the videos to be a nice compliment to but not substitute for the e-book. Having an audio version is great for listening on the go. Potentially the most useful part for the already educated is the project plan. It has sheets on setting the system up, maintaining it, a to-do checklist, and a materials list with approximates costs and times. Using the project plan will keep you organized and the project simplified.

Why spend the $40 if the information presented can be found elsewhere?

Yes, we could find all this information in various books and websites scattered about. The really valuable piece is that it is already compiled, saving much time and trial and error.

1) The beginner gardener would need some expertise to know where to look and what subjects to study.

2) Reading all those books and distilling the information can take years, plus trial and error on the ground

3) Much less expensive than most permaculture books

4) Why buy any book?

If you want to start now and not after some time spent researching, and if you want a system that has already been proven effective, then Food4Wealth will get you going. Once your garden is going, then reading and researching can fill in the gaps or give more in depth knowledge on the how’s and why’s of growing food ecologically. Often the most powerful lessons are learned right there in the garden.

Overall, I like the straightforward approach used to present potentially complex information. I found the e-book to be thorough enough and easy to follow. The Food4Wealth product gives a good introduction and working knowledge to get an ecological garden started and growing food. It also introduces principles found in many other schools of thought: permaculture, natural farming, and no dig methods without using those actual words. If you would like to create less labor-intensive gardens that have a higher, year-long yield of organic vegetables and fruit, then check out the Food4Wealth system.

Pittsburgh Permaculture