Each spring I eagerly anticipate starting what I call my salad garden. The season’s cool temperatures are ideal for growing some of my favorite greens. I grow plenty of arugula and a wide range of leafy salad greens, such as my favorite Buttercrunch lettuce in my raised bed vegetable garden.
For a little bit of a jump on the season, I like to start my salad garden with young transplants that I purchase from a local garden center. But since lettuce germinates so easily, I also sow seeds for a second crop. In no time my vegetable bed will be full of delicious, crisp lettuce.
Lettuce and other cool weather crops such as green onions, radishes, English peas and broccoli will germinate as soon as the soil begins to warm a bit.
Many salad greens grow so quickly I can harvest several crops by planting the seeds every two weeks before it is time to plant the warm season vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and squash.
If you don’t have room for raised beds or a vegetable garden, don’t despair. You might try growing some salad greens in containers. Just sprinkle a few seeds in containers filled with potting soil, lightly cover the seed, keep the soil moist and place the containers in the full sun. Before you know it, you’ll be cutting fresh greens for your table.