As easy as lettuces are to grow, they simply belong in our beds and their health benefits are added. There are certainly types of lettuce that can be sown in the cooler months (some with frost protection), but the germination time is then significantly slowed down. If you have decided on the salad, the better option is to prepare it indoors in the warm and you can even start with it in January. We have summarized below which varieties are most suitable, how you can grow lettuce indoors in winter and when it can be allowed outdoors.
Garden salads – perfect for mixed crops!
As already mentioned, there are certainly situations in which lettuces can be sown directly into the bed if you want to grow lettuce in winter. However, this not only depends on the variety (e.g. winter purslane and lamb's lettuce), i.e. how frost hardy it is, but also on the annual weather conditions and those of the region in which you live. To be on the safe side, it's best to do it indoors and grow the plants. This gives your salads a head start of up to 4 weeks, which of course means an earlier first harvest.
Another advantage of growing lettuce indoors in winter is that you avoid snail season in the garden and your plants are perfectly protected.
Growing lettuce in winter – when should you prefer lettuce?
If you want to grow lettuce in winter, start with thisBest preferred at the end of Januaryor at the beginning of February at the latest in order to be able to transplant sufficiently strong lettuce plants into the beds at exactly the right time. In addition to the lettuces sown indoors, you can also sow the next batch in the bed from March onwards, where you then have to protect them from frost with glass or fleece.
Which varieties are best suited?
Lettuces and lettuces are best suited for this time as they require cool temperatures and so benefit from the still low temperatures in early spring after they have been grown. The subsequent heat is less optimal as it causes the lettuces to “shoot”: they reach flowering quickly, which also makes the leaves bitter.
So after you do thisVarieties from January/FebruaryIf you were the first to sow, you can continue from May onwards with summer salads where shooting does not pose a danger.
Growing lettuce in winter – this is how you grow it
You need:
- Growing pots (seed trays or multi-pot pallets are also suitable)
- potting soil
- complaint
How to sow lettuce
- Fill the selected containers with soil.
- For lettuce, add two seeds per pot/segment. Cut lettuce and lettuce are sown over a wider area and thinned out later.
- Press the seeds lightly into the soil (0.5 to 1 centimeter deep). Lettuce seeds germinate in light and should therefore only be lightly covered with soil.
- Moisten the soil. Do not water as the seeds will be washed away. Use a spray bottle instead.
Then place the containers in a warm place (10 to 15 degrees and never above 20 degrees) and keep the soil evenly moist so that the seeds can germinate quickly. Under these conditions, this usually takes between one and a week and a half.
Growing lettuce indoors in winter – can you keep it indoors?
If you grow lettuce indoors in winter, you candefinitely keep it inside(or part of it). Just a few weeks after germination, the lettuces produce enough young leaves that you can then harvest and enjoy as baby lettuce. The stem remains in the ground and continues to produce new leaves. In addition to lettuces, the following are also suitable for the windowsill:
- Leeks (root in water and then replant)
- Celery stalks (root in waterand then replant)
- Arugula (Rauke)
- Romana hearts (root in water and then replant)
Tips for a consistent harvest all season long
To ensure you have an uninterrupted harvest of lettuce leaves, you can also re-sow at regular intervals (one of the many benefits of lettuces). Broadly speaking, this means about every two weeks. You can also simply go by the leaves: after germination, the plant first gets so-called cotyledons and only then the first real pair of leaves. Between germination and this pair of leaves is the perfect time to reseed.
As a rule, you can harvest regularly from March or April at the latest if you grow lettuce in winter.
What to cut back in Januaryfind out here.
