Lettuce seedlings

This is the first sowing of Monty’s lettuce that I put in a few weeks ago in a propagator outside (without heat). I planted a few of each variety Little Gem, Aruba, Salad Bowl, Lobjoits Green, Merveille de Quatre Saison. I didn’t plant any All the Year Round but I did put a few directly in the soil up at mtp as they are the hardiest of the lot. They’ve come on very well. The Little Gem and Aruba are clear winners in the germination and reliability areas with Salad Bowl a close third. Lobjoits Green and 4 Seasons however were pretty poor when it came to germination. Only one of each came up and I had to re-sow some seed in both rows to fill the gaps.
We grew Little Gem last year and ended up with a glut of them come July. This year I really must get the successional planting pinned down. I find that I get busy doing other stuff and ‘forget’ to sow more seed. Then I wonder why we have a mass of salad one month and none the next. My plan is to sow one of each variety per week so that we always have a selection for the salad bowl.

Category: Propagating     Tagged:

9 Comments on “Lettuce seedlings”

  1. i also find successional sowing difficult. my lettuces are usually the greatest casualties. hopefully will be better this year.
    our patch is such a field of weed seeds though that I’m sowing in modules, so i also fail at pricking out and moving on.
    I think part of the problem is that my 5 year old does lots of the sowing, and anything vaguely small she sprinkles in clumps rather than 1 or 2 – but i love her helping,s o will carry on!

  2. If you don’t manage to do successional lettuce don’t worry because one thing I found last year is that if you cut a little gem lettuce leave the stump in the ground and in a few weeks it will have sprouted again to give a much smaller lettuce but still edible.

  3. yes, good idea. I also thought our really crammed clumped salds could be good for cut and come again.

  4. I often take a few leaves at a time off a lettuce and keep it going that way, I have put stars on my calendar at intervals to remind me to sow succesionally, dont know it that’ll work.

  7. Propogating workshop! wha…. I’m there. Where is Yalding Gardens exactly?

  8. I am growing my lettuces indoors. They have been moved from the seed tray to small pots, one seedling per pot. Am I OK to just leave them alone to get bigger, obviously keeping them moist? This is my first time growing anything, do they need to be fed or moved outside or anything? Some of them are looking really pale and leggy.

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