If you want to grow your own vegetables but don’t have much space for it, selecting vegetables that can be grown in containers can be your best bet. In this case, learning how to grow lettuce is one of the easiest way to do this. Lettuce are not much of a hassle to grow and it can be grown even in containers.

Aside from this, lettuce have a very exceptional nutritional value making it one of the most common vegetables grown by organic home growers. It is rich in vitamins A, K and C as well as antioxidants and beta carotene. And if you’re fond of salad, there’s no better and fresher way to prepare your salad than to use the produce from your own little garden.

Growing lettuce may not be much of a trouble but there are several things you need to keep in mind to ensure that you’ll grow high quality lettuce for harvest. Some of these things are:

Preparation of Containers

First things first, you need to find for yourself ideal containers you can use for your little garden. You can use window boxes, planters, planters or even the container used in most supermarkets to display lettuce or other fruits or vegetables. Once you find a suitable container, you need to make some gashes on its bottom to allow for water flow when watering the plants.

The next step would include preparing the soil you’re going to place inside the containers. The best soil type for this purpose would be humus soil. You could also add equal portion of perlite and vermiculite. Both will aid in the proper absorption of air and water thus, helping in the optimum growth of your plants.

Planting the Seeds

Once the containers are ready, you can start sowing the lettuce seed. Be sure to use high quality seeds from trusted brands. The seeds have to be sown with a depth of 1/4 of an inch. After sowing, spray with water gently.

The seeds will germinate for about 1 or 2 weeks. After observing growth, you can thin out the lettuce allowing extra space for the more lush ones. You have the option of transplanting the seedlings you have taken out of the containers.

Care and Maintenance

With proper care, you can expect to harvest fresh lettuce from your own little garden any time of the year. Just ensure that the factors required by the plants are met. For example, lettuce has to be watered regularly. But it has to be in such a way that will just maintain the moistness of the soil.

Another thing, lettuce would also require exposure to light. In fact, it may require 10-12 hours of light exposure. However, when exposing it to sunlight, you have to keep in mind that lettuce grows best in cooler environments. This is why you also have to see to it that the temperature doesn’t get too high.

Additionally, placing compost rich in nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus will really help in producing high quality lettuce.

For a more in depth information and practical tips on growing lettuce in containers and many other vegetables, you can check out this resource here:

[http://www.StartaGarden.info]

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