Salad in boxes

Salad crops do not like summer heat. Trying to start salad in the summer is difficult. Fortunately, with poor weather summers, with weeks of rain and overcast skies, the gardener can use the grey days and the shaded spots of the city garden to start salad most the year.

Experimenting is everything. It is worth trying different types in different containers (trays and pots) in different parts of the garden. By moving containers out of the sun once the plants are established can prevent them from bolting and keep them producing for longer.

Identifying what works best in a garden takes some trial and error. In this case, lettuce concarde, works very well in pots and in trays amid the difficult weather conditions of a Belgium spring. It makes sense to stick with 3 or 4 known successes and then experiment with 2 or 3 new varieties.

Radish are a very useful crop for testing out growing spaces. Leaves can appear within 3 days of planting seed and radish can be ready for picking in 1 month. They can be grown indoors or added to larger pots with other plants. Radish work well in the mixed weather conditions of Belgium.

The main rules with growing salad in containers are always to have a new tray starting and always to keep the starting trays damp. This routine of working between trays and moving them around in the garden area means salad supply can be constant throughout the summer.

Lettuce

Radishes