You can grow your own young plants from seed, or buy them from nurs­eries and gar­den cen­tres. Let­tuce makes an ide­al quick crop to grow be­tween oth­er veg­eta­bles be­fore they ma­ture, or at the front of flowerbeds and in pots.

How to do it

Wa­ter young let­tuce plants an hour be­fore plant­i­ng. Knock them from their seed trays or pots, tak­ing care not to dam­age the roots. Use a length of straight tim­ber or string to keep them in line, where nec­es­sary.

Plant let­tuce with a trow­el en­sur­ing that the top of the root­ball is at the same lev­el as the sur­round­ing soil.

Fill soil around the roots and firm it in po­si­tion us­ing the tips of your fin­gers. Space plants 15cm - 30cm apart (check the la­bel or seed pack­et for in­di­vid­ual in­struc­tions.) Plant in rows be­tween oth­er veg­eta­bles or in blocks. Wa­ter well af­ter plant­i­ng and at two-day in­ter­vals in dry weath­er.