Bagged salad is expensive, often tasteless and half of it ends up slimy at the back of the fridge. Growing your own in a pot by the back door gives you fresher, livelier leaves for pennies, and you pick only what you need.
Why containers suit salad
Salad leaves have shallow roots and grow fast, which makes them ideal for pots, troughs and window boxes. A container by the kitchen door is close enough that you actually use it, and easy to protect from the slugs that devour leaves at ground level.
Sowing for a steady supply
The trick to never running out is little and often, rather than one big sowing that all matures at once.
- Sow a short row or a pinch of seed every couple of weeks.
- Choose cut-and-come-again mixes that regrow after picking.
- Keep the compost moist; dry salad bolts and turns bitter.
Cut and come again
Rather than pulling whole plants, snip the outer leaves with scissors and leave the centre to grow on. A single sowing of loose-leaf lettuce, rocket or oriental mustard will give several pickings over many weeks before it tires.
Keep them going
Salad bolts to seed in hot, dry weather, so move the pots into a little afternoon shade in high summer and never let them dry out. A weak liquid feed every couple of weeks keeps the leaves coming, and a fresh sowing always waits in the wings.