Let’s talk about a salad bowl. No, I’m not talking about the glass bowl sitting in your kitchen cabinet that you serve salad in. I’m talking about bowls or pots that you can grow your own lettuce in.
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This is a perfect way to repurpose an old traditional salad bowl to grow your lettuce in. Glass bowls don’t work as well since it’s impossible to add drainage holes in the bottom. If you have an old wooden bowl though let’s repurpose it. Or consider using a ceramic planter bowl or even pots you’re no longer using for potted plants.
Basic Salad Bowl
The idea is simple, get a bowl or pot, fill it with potting soil, and plant your salad and salad fixings. A salad or lettuce bowl can include several different varieties of lettuce and a few of your favorite herbs. Or you can divide everything up in several different containers and grow a small tomato plant and a few green onions as well. Mix and match as you see fit, depending on what you like to eat.
That’s the fun of growing your own food. You can try different varieties and combinations until you come up with the one that works best for you. Along the way, you get to sample and try different varieties of lettuce your local market doesn’t offer. There’s so much more than iceberg lettuce and spinach out there.
Some of the varieties that you can consider include:
- Arugula
- Butterhead
- Cress
- Endive
- Romain
- Red or Green Leaf
- Radicchio
Benefits
Salad bowls are a small and compact way to give gardening a try. They are also an excellent tool to help teach your children about where our food comes from and how it is grown. Get the kids involved in planting and caring for the lettuce plants. Not only is it a great learning experience, it’s also a wonderful way to get them to eat more greens. After all, they’ve grown this lettuce.
Plant Family
Lettuce plants are part of the Asteraceae family. They don’t have very deep roots, just 6 inches, which is why shallow bowls work perfectly for planting them indoors. Lettuces enjoy cooler weather which makes a sunny window a great option. If the plant gets over 80° F for too long it will bolt (grow a stalk with flowers). The cooler window and smaller container means you don’t need a large amount of soil to retain moisture. In other words, shallow bowls are a great way to grow a large amount of lettuce in little space or soil.
To get started, get a nice shallow planting bowl about 8 inches deep and a bag of quality potting soil that includes a slow release fertilizer appropriate for vegetables. Or if you’re composting already, well-aged compost would make a rich organic way to fertilize your lettuce. Get the seeds started, watch them grow. Most lettuce varieties can be harvested often from the outside leaves lasting for several weeks.
Finally, eat and enjoy! Share in the comments what is your favorite variety.
