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We grow lettuce on a home windowsill. Is it possible to grow leaf lettuce on a windowsill. Sowing preparation

Many housewives think about how to grow lettuce on the windowsill. And this is not surprising, because then there will be fresh greens on the table even in winter. It is added to various dishes, salads and decorate sandwiches. But before you start the process, you need to decide on the plant variety, as well as learn all the nuances of growing lettuce.

Salad on the windowsill. Cultivation and care

How to plant lettuce

Lettuce is easy to grow on a windowsill. It grows well throughout the year, especially with normal watering and good lighting. The plant is quite tolerant of low temperatures, but it does not tolerate heat well. It is best to plant lettuce in the spring, as there is no need for additional lighting. Leaf lettuce on the windowsill in winter needs to be illuminated with electric lamps for several hours.

To set up a mini-garden at home you will need:

  • pots or other containers for planting lettuce;
  • the required amount of soil;
  • polyethylene to create a greenhouse;
  • watering can and spray gun;
  • fertilizer;
  • lamps to create additional lighting.

All this is required for growing greens at home. But just purchasing the necessary equipment in the appropriate store is not enough; you should know the secrets of planting and caring for this useful plant.

How to grow lettuce on a windowsill:

It is necessary to responsibly approach the composition of the soil. An excellent substrate is obtained from 2 parts coconut fiber and 1 part biohumus. You can also plant lettuce in soil that consists of garden soil, peat, rotted manure, and compost soil. All components of the soil are taken in approximately the same amount. For the rapid cultivation of leaf lettuce, you can enrich the soil with ash, urea or nitrophoska. Many prefer special soil in the respective stores.


How to grow lettuce on a windowsill. Photo

As a container for planting, you must use large pots, at least 1-2 liters in volume. The fact is that the lettuce does not tolerate transplanting well, so it is better to immediately sow it in a suitable container. As for the material, you need to choose a plastic pot. The clay container tends to absorb moisture, which causes the soil to dry out faster.

If another plant has grown in the pot before, then it must be thoroughly cleaned. Otherwise, the remaining pest eggs and bacteria will destroy the lettuce over time. Therefore, the container should be washed with soapy water.

The next step is preparation drainage. This is necessary to avoid stagnant moisture and rotting of the roots of the plant. Expanded clay, silicone or synthetic winterizer are suitable as drainage for lettuce. A moisture-absorbing layer must be placed at the very bottom of the container in which the lettuce will grow. These materials quickly absorb all excess moisture and evaporate it, moistening the air.

The soil must be poured into the pot to the very top, leaving only about 2-3 cm.

Lettuce seeds must be soaked in water before planting. potassium permanganate for 1-2 hours. The soil in the pot must be slightly wetted and make small indentations. Lettuce does not need to be sown to a very great depth, 1 cm is enough. After that, cellophane is placed on top of the container, which is removed with the appearance of the first shoots.

Growing lettuce on a windowsill. Photo

It is important to ensure that temperature air did not exceed 20 °C. Therefore, during the heating season, it is better not to place close to the battery and other room-heating devices. Also, the plant should often water, especially in summer. Leaves from time to time should spray using a sprayer. Salad loves this "bathing" very much.

Lettuce in a pot can be eaten after 3-5 weeks. A week later, the plant becomes unusable, releasing arrows. In this case, it should be removed and sown with fresh lettuce.

FAQ

What to do if small lettuce sprouts begin to stretch, and then quickly wither? Abundant watering does not help, as well as additional lighting for 2 hours.

Watering leaf lettuce in a pot is necessary when the topsoil begins to dry out. In winter, there is very little light for the plant, because there is practically no sun. Therefore, additional light should be left for the whole day. For this, fluorescent lamps are most often used.

How many seeds are required for a 1.5 liter pot? And how thick should the sowing be?

This capacity will require 20-30 seeds. They need to be sown very thickly. When sprouts appear, lettuce is thinned out several times, removing weak and crooked ones. As a result, during the formation of rosettes, 5-6 full-fledged sprouts should remain. During thinning, you can transplant excess healthy sprouts into other containers.

Lettuce Growing Secrets

Growing lettuce on a windowsill is easy, but with a few tips, there will always be juicy greens. It is not enough just to sow the seeds and wait for the result. Only by creating the right conditions for lettuce can we hope that it will grow. So, for the rapid cultivation of lettuce, you need:

Lots of light. This culture will not grow in the shade. In addition, the lack of light provokes the formation of peduncles. Experienced gardeners choose certain varieties for growing this greenery on the windowsill. Therefore, for home breeding, it is recommended to purchase salad varieties Lollo Bionda, Emerald Lace or New Year's.

To make additional lighting and save money, you can use LED lamps. They practically do not emit heat and therefore do not dry out the plant. The distance between the light source and the salad should not exceed 6-8 cm.

To not allow excessive heat and drought soil. Otherwise, the salad will immediately begin to disappear - the leaves will become coarse and acquire a bitter aftertaste. Especially often it is necessary to water the salad during the period of active growth. To do this, you need a watering can with a thin spout. Water must be defended, especially if it is tap water. An excellent option would be spraying lettuce leaves. It should be carried out daily until the plant is fully strengthened.

Check soil condition under the film. The greenhouse effect is necessary for the plant to sprout. For salad it is usually 4-5 days. But from time to time you need to look into the greenhouse and water the soil. As soon as the first shoots appear, the cellophane can be removed and the salad placed in the sun.

Often thin out seedlings. It is best to do this several times. After 5-7 days after germination, they need to be thinned out, leaving a distance of 1-2 cm. The second time the lettuce is thinned out when several leaves appear. The distance between plants should not be less than 4-5 cm. If the lettuce is left in cramped conditions, it will grow upwards, and then weaken and disappear.

For the full growth of lettuce, it is necessary to fertilize. It must be a complex composition. Instead of chemistry, many also use ordinary mullein. It should be diluted with liquid in a ratio of 1:10. Water the salad with the resulting solution no more than 1 time per week.

Destroy harmful insects. Even at home, lettuce is attacked by various pests. Most often it is a lettuce aphid that eats the roots of a plant. From this, the lettuce quickly stops growing and subsequently withers. Therefore, if land from the garden is used when planting lettuce, it must be pre-treated. In case aphids have already started, then you should use an infusion of onion peel or dandelion leaves. It is better not to use chemicals.

Growing lettuce in heads is even more difficult than leaf lettuce. Therefore, it is better to gain experience first. Not many people manage to grow leaf lettuce to full size, but this is not necessary at home.

A torn lettuce does not keep for long, only about a week. But at room temperature, it does not store at all. In the refrigerator, salad can be put in a plastic bag. At the same time, it cannot be washed in advance, as the greens will wither even faster. So it is best to eat greens right away. And so that it is always available, you can plant a salad with an interval of 5-7 days. Then you won't have to wait long for the harvest.

Growing lettuce at home is easy, especially if you follow the recommendations. And a few weeks after sowing, there will be fresh greens on the table. And in this way, you can grow greens all year round, enjoying its taste. The main thing is not to forget that this plant needs abundant watering, a lot of light and space for growth.

How to grow lettuce on a windowsill. Video

How in winter you want to crunch with juicy green leaves, and not purchased in a supermarket with a whole set of nitrates, but environmentally friendly, just picked. In this case, you need to master the cultivation of lettuce on the windowsill, especially since there is no particular difficulty in this, because the culture is early and unpretentious.

For each crop on the windowsill, be it parsley or green onions, you need a special container. And as dishes for sowing lettuce, almost any container with a depth of at least 20-25 cm is suitable. It can be plastic or wooden boxes, flower pots. Green plantings in ordinary kitchen utensils look very original, which is a pity to throw away and cannot be used, for example, an old teapot or a beaten favorite cup. With this, your room "beds" will also become a design element of the interior. Just remember to arrange a layer of drainage so that excess water flows down and does not accumulate around the roots.

Tip: in addition to traditional expanded clay, you can use pieces of ordinary synthetic winterizer as drainage. It perfectly absorbs excess moisture, and when the earth in the pot dries out, it will give it back.

Video about growing lettuce at home

Now, as for the soil. Of course, it is easier to purchase ready-made soil for seedlings, but why spend money if you can save money. To grow lettuce, land from a garden, flower bed, or even a neighboring park is quite suitable. The main thing is that it should be of a dense structure, because crumbly soil with a high content of sand will dry out quickly and moisture-loving lettuce may not get enough moisture. There will be enough nutrients in ordinary soil for the development of an early ripening lettuce, but if you still doubt its fertility, then you can add some of the humus or concentrated organic fertilizer Humate. It is recommended to disinfect the prepared soil by heating it in an oven or microwave oven or generously watering it with a solution of potassium permanganate. This kills unwanted microorganisms and fungal spores. It is not necessary to fill the pots with soil to the top, leave about 1.5-2 cm to the edge - it will be more convenient to water, and the earth pushed out by the growing root system will not fall out.

Nutrients in ordinary soil for the development of early ripening lettuce will be enough

Prepared containers with crops are placed on the southern or southeastern windowsills to provide the salad with maximum illumination on short winter days.

It is possible to get a good lettuce crop in a limited amount of soil only if the sowing norms are observed. This is especially true for leaf or head varieties, the excessive thickening of which does not allow the outlet to be safely formed.

When sowing lettuce in boxes, at least 10 cm is left between rows, and the seeds are buried no more than 0.5 cm. Following these tips, we proceed to sowing:

  • the soil before sowing is watered or plentifully moistened from a sprinkler;
  • the surface is leveled and shallow grooves are made with a wooden stick;
  • seeds are sown, leaving 2-3 cm between them - as the rosettes grow, the extra ones will be plucked for consumption, and the rest will continue to grow;

It is possible to get a good lettuce crop in a limited amount of soil only if the sowing norms are observed.

  • now the box is placed in a warm place and covered with a piece of glass or wrapped in a transparent plastic wrap so that moisture is better preserved and the seeds germinate faster;
  • after the first shoots appear, they are transferred to the windowsill, to a cooler and well-lit place.

In the future, simple care and care for the crops will bring the first harvest of tender, juicy, environmentally friendly greens.

The main conditions for growing moisture-loving lettuce is regular, moderate watering. Young plants do not need much water, but as they grow, the frequency and volume of watering will increase.

The temperature regime is also important. Lettuce prefer coolness, but the temperature rise above +15°C leads to the drying of the tips of the leaves, loss of taste, and will certainly provoke the shooting of the rosette. Therefore, it is better to place containers with crops on a loggia, a glazed balcony, on a window in the corridor or on a veranda, where it is not hot, and the temperature does not fall below +5 ... + 7 ° C.

And a few more words about lighting. With spring crops, lettuce seedlings will have enough natural daylight hours. But at the end of autumn - the beginning of winter, when the daylight hours are minimal and the weather is cloudy for most of the time, additional lighting will be required, otherwise the plants will stretch out and you will no longer grow juicy green mass.

With spring crops, lettuce seedlings will have enough natural daylight hours

Mineral dressings for lettuce are not needed, the nutrients contained in the soil for its short vegetative period will be enough. It is unreasonable to use traditional organic fertilizers in an apartment because of the characteristic smell. The only way to “support” the growing lettuce rosettes is to add the same Humate during irrigation - it is useful, harmless and does not smell, but you can do without fertilizers at all.

With proper care, in about three to four weeks it will be possible to harvest the first crop. Of course, in leaf or head lettuce varieties, the first crispy leaves can be plucked off even earlier and greens can be consumed gradually, without waiting for the formation of a full-fledged rosette. And by sowing seeds periodically, with an interval of 1-2 weeks, you will provide your family with fresh herbs throughout the entire cold period.

Features of growing watercress

An almost win-win option to get fresh herbs in winter and, moreover, without any hassle is watercress on the windowsill. It can be successfully grown in any small bowls or dishes, on trays, or even just in a shoebox lid lined with polyethylene. The substrate is even easier: it can be a 2-3 cm layer of ordinary soil, peat or even sawdust. If this was also at hand, then a soft cloth folded in several layers, paper towels, ordinary table napkins or sponges, for example, moistened with water and laid in a plate, will be suitable for seed germination.

Lettuce seeds are sown thick enough so that the growing tender stalks support each other and do not fall. Seedlings appear faster than leaf varieties, no later than 5-7 days, and the seedlings themselves are more patient with growing conditions - cool, + 15 ... + 17 ° C, air at the window is favorable for them, and the meager winter sun is enough for them .

Video on how to grow watercress

Tip: children are especially enthusiastic about home “beds”, and if they are entrusted with growing delicate greens on their own, then they will eat it with great appetite!

The main thing in growing watercress is in no case to allow the soil to dry out, which can quickly and irrevocably destroy crops, but excess water stagnation leads to rotting of the roots.

The first crop of watercress is harvested when it grows to 8-10 cm. Plants are carefully cut with scissors immediately before eating - such greens are not stored for long. Considering that almost all varieties of watercress grow quickly, it is recommended to sow them at intervals of 3-4 days so that the delicate greens on your table do not transfer.

Greens grown in the garden are rich in vitamins and various nutrients. It is used in various salads, in first and second courses, as well as to decorate festive dishes. But, if in summer there are no problems with where to get fresh herbs, then in winter it is much more difficult to get greens. And the prices in shops in the winter "bite".

Unfortunately, lettuce, unlike, for example, parsley or dill, is not stored frozen. But this plant lends itself perfectly to growing at home. It does not require much effort and financial costs.

Choice of lettuce variety

Early maturing lettuce varieties:

  • snowflake;
  • excitement;
  • golden ball;
  • sorepad;
  • raspberry ball.


Varieties of lettuce that are resistant to lack of light:

  • ballet;
  • emerald lace NK;
  • celtic.

Containers or pots?

To use this cultivation technology, seeds of the plant are needed, which can be grown in pots. Watercress on the windowsill is the best option, since this particular type of plant is well suited for growing at home. Other leafy salads can also be used. It is best that the word “small” be present in the salad variety.

The lettuce root system does not penetrate deep into the soil, so lettuce can be grown in shallow plastic containers or pots. It is best to choose plastic pots and containers, as clay products absorb moisture, thereby draining the soil and causing the surface to dry out quickly.


How to grow lettuce in ceramic pots?

Just like in plastic, only the walls of ceramic products need to be covered with plastic bags, in which holes are made in advance to allow water to drain. Drainage holes are required at the bottom of the pot or container. When watering is carried out, excess moisture flows into the saucer, which creates optimal conditions for the life of plants.

Planting lettuce seeds at home

Buy a standard soil mix for your plants. You can, of course, use a mixture of garden soil with humus, turf and sand, but if you want to grow lettuce without fuss, you don’t need to fantasize when coming up with ways to disinfect such land. Avoid direct use of soil from your garden as it always contains bacteria and insects that can damage your crop.

Fill the pot high with soil, but not all the way to the top. You should leave approximately 2.5-3 cm of empty space between the surface of the soil and the rim of the container.

Articles about indoor and ornamental plants

Sprinkle the seeds on top - with a pinch, as if salting it. Try not to sow too much in one place, but you don't have to worry too much about how far apart the seeds are. Subsequently, the seedlings will still have to be thinned out. You can, if the size of the container allows, poke half a centimeter holes with your finger and throw seeds into them, or make even grooves - do as you like.

Sprinkle soil on top, covering the seeds with a layer of 0.5-0.7 cm. If you use more soil, the seeds will not be able to get the light they need to germinate.

Salad care at home

Further care of crops consists in maintaining soil moisture and controlling the temperature in the room. At the same time, note that soil moisture should not turn into waterlogging, otherwise the plants will begin to rot. Watering should be carried out by sprinkling once every 2 or 3 days, it depends on the ambient temperature. The optimum temperature for lettuce growth is considered to be 16 - 20 ° C, although on the loggia during spring (mid-April) sowing, plants can ripen perfectly even at 6 - 7 ° C. The increased temperature and dry air of apartments adversely affect the culture, and therefore it is recommended to periodically spray lettuce leaves and more often arrange airing for crops on window sills. In phase 2, the seedlings are thinned to a distance of at least 8 cm. The torn seedlings can be planted along the edges of containers with seedlings of tomato or cucumber, using lettuce as a compacting plant.

Under the right conditions, the lettuce grows fairly quickly, producing a ready-to-eat leaf mass in as little as 2 to 3 weeks. Ripe watercress leaves are cut and used for food; after root feeding with mineral fertilizers, they grow again. Other lettuces are uprooted, shaken off the ground and stacked vertically in boxes or baskets in a single layer for storage. It is recommended to store them until use under a film in a dark place at a temperature of 1-2 °C.

How to grow watercress on a windowsill using earth or sawdust?

In room conditions, you can grow watercress in the usual way, using commercial greenhouse soil mixture or sawdust. Since the root system of watercress is relatively small, dishes with a height of no more than 7 cm are used for planting. The bowl is filled with soil or sawdust (it is advisable to pre-steam them in a water bath), the seeds are sown to a depth of approximately 0.5 cm, the distance between rows should be about 10 cm, well moisturize. After the first shoots appear, the container is transferred to the windowsill, the temperature is maintained at + 8, and when sprouts appear, it is increased to + 10ºС. Seedlings need to be thinned, the distance between rows should be at least 5 cm.

Watercress is a moisture-loving crop, so you need to water it often, but without fanaticism, excess moisture also harms the plant, as well as overdrying the soil. When the first pair of leaves appears on the plant, it is time to feed: dilute 2.5 g of urea per 1 liter of water, pour watercress with this solution. After 14 days, the plant is fed a second time: take superphosphate - 2 g, ammonium sulfate - 1 g, potassium salt - 1.5 g, dilute it all in a liter of water.

The first crop of lettuce can be cut after 10 days, the bulk of the leaves ripen about 18 days after sowing. Watercress is usually sheared 2 times. After the plant reaches a height of 10-15 cm, it is removed. In this way, you can grow watercress even in winter, for this you just need to stock up on seeds.

See also our articles

How to grow lettuce at home video

Salad contains a huge amount of nutrients. Therefore, many lovers of this greenery want to grow it not only in their summer cottage, but also at home. Is it possible to grow lettuce from seed on a windowsill at home? This will be discussed further.

Is it possible to grow leaf lettuce on a windowsill

Lettuce can also be grown at home. Both in winter and in summer. But this plant at home requires a lot of attention.

For his growth needs a lot of sunlight. On short winter days, it needs additional lighting. If there is not enough light, it begins to bloom early. Does not tolerate drought, heat. In this case, the leaves become bitter. Beginners should not take on the cultivation of head forms in the apartment. They are very capricious.

This is an early crop. To constantly have greenery at home, it must be planted 1 time in 10 - 14 days.

The best varieties of lettuce for growing at home

Batavia - the most suitable salad variety for an apartment

The most suitable variety for an apartment is considered Batavia. Most grocery stores sell it.

It grows even without additional lighting. It can withstand short-term drought, high air temperatures.

The most famous varieties for cultivation on the windowsill:

  • lollo rossa
  • emerald lace
  • New Year
  • lollo bionda
  • vitamin

Lolla rossa is distinguished by a brown head of cabbage, curly light green leaves. Counts the most vitamin. It has a delicate taste.

Lolla bionda - the most beautiful. The leaves are wavy. Yellow-green color. The taste is pleasant, bitter with a nutty flavor.

The apartment also grows watercress. This is a moisture-loving plant. The best varieties for the windowsill:

  • curly;
  • peppery;
  • broad-leaved;
  • ordinary.

Watercress Broadleaf

Lettuce roots do not lie deep in the soil. Large containers are not needed for its growth. It is better to choose a plastic pot. The capacity must be volume 1-2 liters. Depth - 10 - 35 cm. Depending on the variety. There should be holes in the bottom of the container.

Soil can be purchased at the store or use garden soil. Acidic soil is not suitable for planting. Better option - a mixture of sod land, humus, sand. Another option is garden soil, coconut fiber, biohumus. The ratio of the last two is 2:1.

For sowing, it is necessary to use drainage: pebbles, expanded clay, broken bricks, small pebbles.

When using garden soil, the soil should be disinfected with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. The soil is filled into the pot, not bringing it to the edges of 2.5 - 3 cm.

Some varieties can be grown without soil. One of them is watercress. For cultivation, such improvised materials as a sponge, cotton wool, paper are used.

Some varieties of lettuce can be grown without soil - on paper or cotton

Sowing seeds

  • Seeds before sowing are disinfected in a solution of potassium permanganate. Time - 2-3 hours.
  • A drainage layer is placed at the bottom of the pot.
  • Drainage is covered with earth. Watered.
  • They make a groove. Depth - 5 mm. Row spacing - 10 cm.
  • Seeds are placed in the groove. Fall asleep with a small amount of earth. Lightly compacted.
  • They cover the container with a package - they create a greenhouse effect.
  • Put in a dark place.
  • When the first sprouts appear, the package is removed. Transferred to the windowsill.

The first shoots can be seen after 4 - 5 days. You need to keep it away from direct sunlight. On bright sunny days, it is necessary to shade it - the leaves can burn.

Lettuce loves heat. For its good growth requires a temperature in the range of 17-21 degrees. During a strong drop in temperature outside, the container with plants should be removed from the windowsill.

culture needs thinning. This is done 2 times:

  1. After 1 week, when the first shoots appear; It is necessary to leave a distance between them of 1-2 cm.
  2. When 2 true leaves are formed; Distance - 4-5 cm.

If the lettuce grows densely, it will not be possible to get a good harvest.

Lettuce needs to be thinned twice

Watering

Watering should be plentiful. With insufficient soil moisture, arrows begin to form earlier than usual. Watered with settled water 1 time in 1 - 2 days.

If the container is located on the south side - more often. In winter - less often. Do not over-moisten the soil - the roots and lower leaves will begin to rot. The air in the room should be humidified. The leaves are sprayed with water from a spray bottle.

top dressing

Feed up 1 time in 1.5–2 weeks. Suitable fertilizer for indoor plants. This is a fast growing culture. If fertile soil has been chosen for planting, it grows well without them.

You can not make a large amount of nitrogen fertilizers - lettuce is able to accumulate nitrates. If you use a top dressing based on potassium iodide, you can get a plant with a large amount of iodine in the composition.

Lighting

Light-loving plant. In winter, in short autumn - spring days, you need to use additional lighting- fluorescent lamps. You need to turn them on for 2 - 5 hours. Hang at a height of 50 - 60 cm above the plant.

Light day when growing lettuce should last 12-14 hours

In total, daylight hours should last 12-14 hours. It is impossible to highlight during the day. Greens need to rest.

If it is not possible to additionally illuminate the plant, it is best to plant it at the end of winter.

loosening

Lettuce has very fragile, superficial roots. Loosen the ground under the seedlings it is forbidden.

Harvesting

Greens are growing fast. It can be collected within a few weeks. Uproot or tear off the outermost leaves. Arrows form after 3-5 weeks. The plant is removed. Other seeds are sown in its place.

Experienced gardeners planting lettuce once every 10 days. From one plant, 40-50 grams of greens are obtained. But it all depends on the variety.

Leaf lettuce can be grown both outdoors and at home. But when planting it in an apartment, you need to remember that it requires daily care.

  1. This is a moisture-loving plant. The soil should always be slightly moist. But too much moisture can kill it.
  2. The best place is a window sill on the south, southeast side. Without enough light at home, it is impossible to grow it.

Grows fast. Doesn't take up much space. But you need to choose the right variety for the pot.

Every day we think about our health and nutrition. When choosing what to cook, we try to make our diet the most complete and rich in vitamins. Unfortunately, in the bazaar or in supermarkets in winter, greens are often very expensive, and not everyone can afford to buy them in sufficient quantities. Many types of greens are quite easy to grow at home.

And lettuce is a culture that is quite affordable for home cultivation. In order to successfully grow leaf lettuce at home on the windowsill, you should know some rules, but this is available to absolutely everyone. The harvest will not be long, but plentiful.

Let's try to figure out all the secrets of home agriculture, and find out how to grow lettuce on the windowsill at home.

Choice of lettuce variety

In order to get lettuce at home in winter, it is best to choose its leafy varieties. Lettuce on the windowsill can grow even at low positive temperatures, and it does not require very deep containers, since it has a superficial root system. Before planting lettuce at home, you need to purchase its seeds of a suitable variety. A particularly good choice for growing a house on a balcony would be early ripening varieties. When choosing a lettuce variety for growing at home, it is also worth noting varieties that are resistant to lack of light. Below are examples of lettuce varieties suitable for growing at home on the balcony in winter.

Early varieties:

  • snowflake;
  • excitement;
  • golden ball;
  • sorepad;
  • raspberry ball.

Varieties that are resistant to lack of light:

  • ballet;
  • emerald lace NK;
  • celtic.

Sowing preparation

The choice of capacity for sowing and soil preparation

To grow leaf lettuce on the balcony, you need to pick up a container with a depth of 20-25 cm. If you still decide to grow a headed variety, you will need to pick up a container for planting it deeper - about 35 cm. In order to have fresh greens at home in winter, everything time, it is worth preparing several containers, and sowing the seeds once every two weeks.

If you do not have any suitable containers at home, then in order to grow lettuce on a balcony or windowsill, you can simply use a tight plastic bag. The bag is placed on some kind of dish, moistened soil is poured into it, and many small holes are made on the sides so that excess water can escape through them. A lettuce grown in a bag will not differ in any way from its counterparts from a container.

The soil for growing lettuce must be nutritious. You can buy the finished mixture in a special store. And if you want to make the soil mixture yourself, you can use the following composition:

In order to make this mixture nutritious, it is recommended to add 1 kg of sand and wood ash and 1 tablespoon of urea and nitrophoska to a bucket of this mixture.

At home, you can still use the mixture, which is easy to prepare using the following composition:

Drainage and seeding

The soil in which you grow lettuce should be slightly moist at all times. But at the same time, stagnation of this moisture is strictly not allowed. With excess moisture, the root collar and lower leaves may begin to rot. Therefore, before you plant leaf lettuce in a container, you need to take care of drainage. As a drainage material, you can use simple pebbles, expanded clay or synthetic winterizer.

Before sowing seeds, it is required to moisten the soil. Then they make shallow grooves. In order for you to grow lush bushes at home, the distance between adjacent grooves should not be less than 15 cm. Seeds are not sown very densely in the grooves, lightly sprinkled with moist soil and crushed. As a rule, the first sprouts sprout quite easily and quickly, but to speed up their germination, you can create greenhouse conditions by pulling a plastic bag. If you poured earth to the very top, you can put arcs of bent wire or sticks, and put a bag on them. This will create an air space between the soil, the young shoots and the film, and keep the young shoots from fighting.

Care of young seedlings

After the emergence of shoots (usually it takes from 2 to 5 days), the film must be removed. If the lettuce has risen very thickly, the seedlings are thinned out. Further care for your landings at home on the balcony is quite simple. Moisturize every couple of days. At the same time, both the earth and the leaves themselves are moistened, which are good to spray from a spray bottle. It is convenient to water the salad from a watering can with a long spout, especially when the leaves grow up. In winter, lettuce, which grows at home on the windowsill or on the balcony, needs to be illuminated with special lamps, since ultraviolet radiation is not enough for its successful growth. You can always buy these lamps in specialized stores, and enjoy growing many crops at home all year round.

If you cannot afford to buy a special plant lamp, you can take a simple fluorescent lamp and install it at a height of 50-60 cm from the plants. Light day for salad should last at least 12-14 hours.

Under these conditions, in a month you will be able to harvest your first grown crop.

If you have a lot of free space on the balcony or on the windowsill at home, you can be advised at the time when your seedlings have two true leaves, plant at least some seedlings in separate cups. Growing lettuce in individual pots will produce plants with much larger leaves than those grown in a shared container.

Fertilizer crops

In order to grow lettuce at home on the balcony, it is not at all necessary to fertilize it if a nutrient soil mixture is initially selected. If you are not sure that the soil in which you have sown the seeds is nutritious, then your plants should be fed periodically. This is due to the fact that lettuce is a very fast growing crop. You can use any complex fertilizer or mullein solution for top dressing. Mullein must be diluted in a ratio of 1:10. Plants are watered with this solution once a week. This is how you can get a salad on the windowsill.

Results

Summing up, it should be noted that getting lettuce on the balcony in winter will have to make some efforts. But the delicate taste of home grown greens and the assurance that you are eating healthy, chemical-free greens is definitely worth it!

How in winter you want to crunch with juicy green leaves, and not purchased in a supermarket with a whole set of nitrates, but environmentally friendly, just picked. In this case, you need to master the cultivation of lettuce on the windowsill, especially since there is no particular difficulty in this, because the culture is early and unpretentious.

Preparing a place for a room "bed"

For each crop on the windowsill, whether it be parsley, dill or green onions, you need a special container. And as dishes for sowing lettuce, almost any container with a depth of at least 20-25 cm is suitable. It can be plastic or wooden boxes, flower pots. Green plantings in ordinary kitchen utensils look very original, which is a pity to throw away and cannot be used, for example, an old teapot or a beaten favorite cup. With this, your room "beds" will also become a design element of the interior. Just remember to arrange a layer of drainage so that excess water flows down and does not accumulate around the roots.

Tip: in addition to traditional expanded clay, you can use pieces of ordinary synthetic winterizer as drainage. It perfectly absorbs excess moisture, and when the earth in the pot dries out, it will give it back.

Video about growing lettuce at home

Now, as for the soil. Of course, it is easier to purchase ready-made soil for seedlings, but why spend money if you can save money. To grow lettuce, land from a garden, flower bed, or even a neighboring park is quite suitable. The main thing is that it should be of a dense structure, because crumbly soil with a high content of sand will dry out quickly and moisture-loving lettuce may not get enough moisture. There will be enough nutrients in ordinary soil for the development of an early ripening lettuce, but if you still doubt its fertility, then you can add some of the humus or concentrated organic fertilizer Humate. It is recommended to disinfect the prepared soil by heating it in an oven or microwave oven or generously watering it with a solution of potassium permanganate. This kills unwanted microorganisms and fungal spores. It is not necessary to fill the pots with soil to the top, leave about 1.5-2 cm to the edge - it will be more convenient to water, and the earth pushed out by the growing root system will not fall out.

Nutrients in ordinary soil for the development of early ripening lettuce will be enough

Prepared containers with crops are placed on the southern or southeastern windowsills to provide the salad with maximum illumination on short winter days.

Seeding rules and norms

It is possible to get a good lettuce crop in a limited amount of soil only if the sowing norms are observed. This is especially true for leaf or head varieties, the excessive thickening of which does not allow the outlet to be safely formed.

When sowing lettuce in boxes, at least 10 cm is left between rows, and the seeds are buried no more than 0.5 cm. Following these tips, we proceed to sowing:

  • the soil before sowing is watered or plentifully moistened from a sprinkler;
  • the surface is leveled and shallow grooves are made with a wooden stick;
  • seeds are sown, leaving 2-3 cm between them - as the rosettes grow, the extra ones will be plucked for consumption, and the rest will continue to grow;

It is possible to get a good lettuce crop in a limited amount of soil only if the sowing norms are observed.

  • now the box is placed in a warm place and covered with a piece of glass or wrapped in a transparent plastic wrap so that moisture is better preserved and the seeds germinate faster;
  • after the first shoots appear, they are transferred to the windowsill, to a cooler and well-lit place.

In the future, simple care and care for the crops will bring the first harvest of tender, juicy, environmentally friendly greens.

Crop care and harvest

The main conditions for growing moisture-loving lettuce is regular, moderate watering. Young plants do not need much water, but as they grow, the frequency and volume of watering will increase.

The temperature regime is also important. Lettuce prefer coolness, but the temperature rise above +15°C leads to the drying of the tips of the leaves, loss of taste, and will certainly provoke the shooting of the rosette. Therefore, it is better to place containers with crops on a loggia, a glazed balcony, on a window in the corridor or on a veranda, where it is not hot, and the temperature does not fall below +5 ... + 7 ° C.

And a few more words about lighting. With spring crops, lettuce seedlings will have enough natural daylight hours. But at the end of autumn - the beginning of winter, when the daylight hours are minimal and the weather is cloudy for most of the time, additional lighting will be required, otherwise the plants will stretch out and you will no longer grow juicy green mass.

With spring crops, lettuce seedlings will have enough natural daylight hours

Mineral dressings for lettuce are not needed, the nutrients contained in the soil for its short vegetative period will be enough. It is unreasonable to use traditional organic fertilizers in an apartment because of the characteristic smell. The only way to “support” the growing lettuce rosettes is to add the same Humate during irrigation - it is useful, harmless and does not smell, but you can do without fertilizers at all.

With proper care, in about three to four weeks it will be possible to harvest the first crop. Of course, in leaf or head lettuce varieties, the first crispy leaves can be plucked off even earlier and greens can be consumed gradually, without waiting for the formation of a full-fledged rosette. And by sowing seeds periodically, with an interval of 1-2 weeks, you will provide your family with fresh herbs throughout the entire cold period.

Features of growing watercress

An almost win-win option to get fresh herbs in winter and, moreover, without any hassle is watercress on the windowsill. It can be successfully grown in any small bowls or dishes, on trays, or even just in a shoebox lid lined with polyethylene. The substrate is even easier: it can be a 2-3 cm layer of ordinary soil, peat or even sawdust. If this was also at hand, then a soft cloth folded in several layers, paper towels, ordinary table napkins or sponges, for example, moistened with water and laid in a plate, will be suitable for seed germination.

Lettuce seeds are sown thick enough so that the growing tender stalks support each other and do not fall. Seedlings appear faster than leaf varieties, no later than 5-7 days, and the seedlings themselves are more patient with growing conditions - cool, + 15 ... + 17 ° C, air at the window is favorable for them, and the meager winter sun is enough for them .

Video on how to grow watercress

Tip: children are especially enthusiastic about home “beds”, and if they are entrusted with growing delicate greens on their own, then they will eat it with great appetite!

The main thing in growing watercress is in no case to allow the soil to dry out, which can quickly and irrevocably destroy crops, but excess water stagnation leads to rotting of the roots.

The first crop of watercress is harvested when it grows to 8-10 cm. Plants are carefully cut with scissors immediately before eating - such greens are not stored for long. Considering that almost all varieties of watercress grow quickly, it is recommended to sow them at intervals of 3-4 days so that the delicate greens on your table do not transfer.

Leaf lettuce or lettuce is a storehouse of vitamins and the fastest production that can be obtained from seeds. Useful and tasty greens can please yourself all year round, growing on the windowsill in winter and in the open field during the warm season.

In a greenhouse, these periods are significantly extended, and if it is possible to heat the greenhouse, lettuce is grown all year round. The technology of growing lettuce is simple, but it requires simple techniques to get a good harvest.

Growing lettuce in a greenhouse in winter and early spring

Required temperature

Leaf lettuce is resistant to cold. It can be grown in a greenhouse from early spring, and if it is heated, grow it even in winter. Seeds can hatch at a temperature of 5-6 °C, young sprouts can withstand temperatures as low as -2 °C. For good growth and development, the optimum air temperature is 20 ° C.

Choose cold hardy varieties.

Soil preparation

Prepare the soil in the fall. Carefully dig, feed. For each m² add 40 g of superphosphate, 15 g of potassium chloride. The introduction of organic matter (rotted manure) helps to equalize the level of acidity to neutral or slightly acidic. Also add slaked lime if the soil is acidic.

When and how to sow

Level the area. Start planting when the temperature inside the greenhouse at night does not fall below 0 ° C (in an unheated greenhouse, this is around mid-late March).

  • Make rows 10 cm apart.
  • The seeding depth should be 1-2 cm.
  • The weather is changeable, so if there is a threat of severe frosts, mulch the soil with fine humus.

The growing process will take about 1 month.

How to care

When shoots appear, they should definitely be thinned out, especially if you grow products for sale: heavily thickened plantings will give less quality greenery, the leaves will be small and pale.

How to break through and is it necessary to dive?

Lettuce growing from seeds when to plant and how to care

  • Leave a distance between plants of 15-20 cm minimum to get large leaf rosettes.
  • Many people practice lettuce picking, the plants are really accepted and soon give a good harvest. However, it should be noted that you are wasting a couple of weeks of precious time.
  • It is much easier, faster and more profitable to immediately sow the required area and simply break through the extra seedlings than to engage in unproductive picking.

How to water

Not often (1-2 times a week), but plentifully. Use cool water, but it should not get on the leaves. Stagnation of water creates a favorable environment for the emergence of diseases.

Remove weeds as needed, regularly loosen the soil between rows.

How to feed

Necessary for good growth. During the growing season, apply a mixture of potassium chloride and ammonium nitrate 2 times: half a tablespoon of each fertilizer per 10 liters of water, but no later than a month before harvesting, so that the products are safe and environmentally friendly.

Conditions for growing lettuce outdoors

In summer, leaf lettuce can be grown outdoors. To get fresh greens until the fall, sow every 14 days.

Choose varieties by maturity: early, medium, late. Information about the timing of sowing and harvesting is indicated on the package with seeds. Each variety has its own characteristics: strictly follow the recommendations of breeders on sowing dates so that instead of a green crop, you do not get arrows with flower stalks.

For leaf lettuce, a place in light shade is preferable: the greens will turn out to be very tender and juicy.

Site preparation is carried out similarly to a greenhouse: autumn digging, fertilization.

When to plant leaf lettuce seeds outdoors

Sowing dates

You can start sowing lettuce from mid-April, when night temperatures do not drop below zero degrees, the threat of short-term frosts is allowed, but not more than 1-2 ° C below zero. Loosen the prepared area, break up large lumps and lumps.

predecessors

Desirable crop precursors are peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes. It gets along well next to beans, radishes, radishes, cucumbers, onions, the latter will repel aphids - the main pest of lettuce.

How to sow

  • To make grooves about 1-2 cm deep.
  • Sow less frequently, preferably leaving 1-1.5 cm between seeds
  • The distance between rows is 15-20 cm.
  • Level the soil, water well.
  • To speed up germination for the first few days, cover the crops with a film.

Follow standard care procedures (similar to greenhouses): water, loosen the soil, remove weeds. When the plants have emerged, thin them out several times, leaving a distance of 15-20 cm in the row.

How to sow lettuce in spring in open ground, look at the video:

Planting lettuce with seeds in the ground is the simplest task that even children can entrust. This will be a good first plant growing experience, especially when it comes time to harvest young succulent leaves.

Growing leaf lettuce at home in winter on the windowsill

To get juicy greenery in winter, you can arrange a vegetable garden on the windowsill or covered balcony. Growing leaf lettuce indoors is not difficult, even inexperienced gardeners can handle it.

Preparation of soil and containers for sowing

Tanks are required deep - about 35 cm.

You can buy potting soil at the store or make your own. Take the land from the site, add rotted manure, peat, mix in equal proportions. Use nitrophoska and urea as fertilizer.

Be sure to lay a drainage layer at the bottom of the container (expanded clay, small pebbles, walnut shells can be used).

How to sow

  • Deepen the seeds by 1-1.5 cm, keep a distance of 15 cm between rows.
  • After sowing, carefully sprinkle the furrows with earth, moisten the crops with a spray gun and cover with a film.
  • Shoots will appear soon, remove the film.

For good plant development, thin out dense plantings to a minimum distance of 8-10 cm between plants.

How to care

Abundantly a couple of times a week. In room conditions, the air is too dry - daily spraying from a spray bottle will be required.

Loosening is carried out from the fourth week of growth: the fragile roots of young plants are easily damaged.

The length of daylight hours in winter is short, it must be extended for salad at least up to 12 hours, so artificial lighting is required.

How to sow and grow lettuce on the windowsill, look at the video: