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    Home » Gardening

    Guide To Growing Lettuce In Containers

    Published by Pam Kessler | 434 words. · About 3 minutes to read this article. - 6 Comments

    Growing lettuce is one of my favorite spring gardening projects. There's nothing like walking out your back door, ripping off a piece of lettuce, throwing it into a bowl and having lunch. It makes me feel all green and organic like.

    I prefer to grow my lettuce in containers, like this old enamel basin, rather than in the ground. Basically because of the pesky bunnies that live just outside the fenced yard.

    They're sort of like Peter Rabbit. Except they don't wear clothes, they don't have books written about them and they aren't millionaires. He did get royalties didn't he?

    Tips on growing lettuce in the spring in a container in your vegetable garden. It's easy and yummy!

    My bunnies are just your ordinary, run of the mill, thieving kind of rabbits.

    Tips on growing lettuce in the spring in a container in your vegetable garden. It's easy and yummy!

    So I just prefer to keep them honest and go the container gardening route these days.

    Lettuce, like most plants, enjoy drainage though. No one wants their feet permanently wet.

    So if you want to plant in something like a cool enamelware bowl you found at an estate sale you will need to either drill some drainage holes in it or make sure it's a rusty, holey bowl like mine was.

    Tips on growing lettuce in the spring in a container in your vegetable garden. It's easy and yummy!

    I lined the bottom with coffee filters since my rusty holes were fairly large in some spots. And then filled the basin up with organic soil made for gardening.

    In this case I used Dr. Earth's Organic Vegetable Planting Mix, because it's what the garden center guy recommended. You don't have to go organic, but you do need to buy something for veggies rather than typical potting soil for flowering plants.

    And then I just planted the lettuces in the dirt.

    Radicchio (Red Leaf Chicory) - full sun - small heads similar to orange or grapefruit

    Radicchio - Red Leaf Chicory

    Merlot Lettuce - full sun - stunning color, open headed leaf type

    Lettuce - Merlot - Lactuca sativa

    Raspberry Dressing Rumex - full sun - gorgeous red veined leaves

    Raspberry Dressing Rumex - Rumex sanguineus

    Buttercrunch Lettuce - full sun - semi-heading bibb type lettuce

    Buttercrunch Lettuce

    You can check out my lettuce that I grew in a colander a few years ago at Growing Lettuce In A Colander.

    And if you want more advice on how to grow lettuce you can check out:

    This wonderful video from Gardenerd on How To Harvest Buttercrunch Lettuce, because I don't know about you, but I tend to let the lettuce stay on the plant a little too long and next thing you know you're growing flowers instead of food.

    And my friend Melissa of Empress Of Dirt has a great tutorial on growing lettuce called Grow Cut And Come Again Salad Greens.

    Do you enjoy growing your own? Or do you prefer the kind that comes in a bag?

    Tips on growing lettuce. In a container or in the ground, it's always an easy and yummy vegetable to grow yourself!

    growing lettuce in containers

    « Vintage Farmhouse Storage Ideas
    Jadeite Green And Crabapples »
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces

      April 30, 2015 at 10:08 pm

      I've never grown lettuce in containers before...and I love the idea! I need to start looking for some fun containers!

      Reply
    2. taryterre

      May 01, 2015 at 2:38 am

      I used to grow lettuce years ago. Yours looks perfect. I love container gardening too. Very convenient.

      Reply
    3. Gwen

      May 01, 2015 at 10:14 am

      What a great post! Thank you for the idea and planting advice. This is just such a great idea as I have thieves in my backyard also. 🙂

      Reply
    4. Musings from Kim K.

      May 01, 2015 at 10:41 am

      Because our back woods/gardening area has become a salad bar for our woodland friends, I think we might start trying container gardening this year. Happy May 1st!

      Reply
    5. Leslie Harris

      May 03, 2015 at 4:25 pm

      Pam you've got me thinking. Why have I never considered growing lettuce before? Your photos are so yummy looking. I'm on my way to check out the video. Now that I'm in a new gardening zone I'm having fun figuring out new planting ideas. 🙂

      Reply
    6. Debbie manno

      May 05, 2015 at 8:23 pm

      Never would have thought to do this Pam. My younger son Jack loves Salads of all kind. I will have to try this.

      Reply

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