Harvest fresh organic lettuce from your patio! Even if you’ve never grown anything before, these salad bowls are a great way to start. Turn your patio, balcony, or porch into a private salad bar.
No more last-minute grocery runs or wilted lettuce in your fridge. Just step outside your door and pluck the exact amount you need. From patio to plate in minutes.
Lettuce you grow yourself is free of the pesticides, herbicides, and chemical residues often found on commercial produce. These lettuce bowls produce an abundance of nutrient-dense, wholesome lettuce far superior to commercially grown alternatives.
OK, enough with the benefits. Let’s get planting…
You will need:
- A wide pot or window box (doesn’t need to be very deep)
- Potting mix
- Plant-tone organic fertilizer
- Lettuce seedlings
Planting a Salad Bowl
We recommend using leaf lettuce for salad bowls as opposed to head-forming varieties like iceberg. The loose, open heads are easier to harvest. Select heat-tolerant varieties (like red fire) for a longer harvest period.
To plant, fill a wide pot with potting mix. Dig a hole for each seedling. Mix a small handful of Plant-tone fertilizer (1-2 T) into the bottom of each hole. Plant your lettuce then water in. A 14″ bowl fits 3-4 plants.
Salad Bowl Care & Harvest
Lettuce likes mild temps. Keep it watered and avoid frying it in the hot afternoon sun. Lettuce will bolt (go to seed) faster if stressed. Keep your salad bowl in part sun with some afternoon shade for maximum harvest.
To harvest, simply pluck a few big leaves from each head as needed. New leaves constantly regrow from the center. Harvest regularly to keep the plants from getting crowded. Salad bowls pay for themselves quickly with ongoing harvests of fresh organic salad greens.
Perpetual salad bowls produce ongoing harvests of fresh organic salad greens for months. Eventually the plants will send up a bloom stalk and become bitter. When this happens, cut the spent plants off at the base and sow some lettuce seeds in the spaces between for a second harvest.
TIP: One for now, One for later! Get two bowls. Plant the first with started lettuce seedlings as shown above. Fill the second bowl 2/3 full of potting mix, add a couple handfuls of plant-tone and mix in, then top with more potting mix to fill. Direct sow lettuce or mesclun mix seeds on the surface and press in gently. Water and keep evenly moist. Seedlings should emerge in 5-7 days. The second bowl will be ready for harvest when the first one starts to bolt, providing a fresh supply that will carry you into the fall.
Have you grown a salad bowl? Any questions? Comment below…
Do you have the seedlings?
Yes, we have lettuce seedlings available at out garden center May-June.