How To Grow Lettuce At Home, Here's A Step By Step Guide

How to grow lettuce at home - Growing vegetables in your home garden and then using them for your everyday cooking is such a rewarding experience. Exotic veggies too have made it to our kitchens now and how about having some of them in our garden too? This time, we thought of bringing you a quick guide to growing lettuce at home.

How To Grow Lettuce At Home?

• Lettuce is a leafy vegetable majorly grown in the US. Lettuce is available in a variety. Romaine lettuce is most commonly found in India and can be grown in your home garden.
• Lettuce grows well in rich organic soil. You can use a regular potting mix and then add compost to it.
• Lettuce can be grown from both seeds or lettuce cuttings.

• To grow lettuce from a lettuce cutting, take the stem end of the lettuce and place it in a shallow dish filled with some water. Place this dish near a window for a few days. Keep changing the water every day. After 10-12 days, you will see the lettuce growing big. This is the time you will have to pot the plant to grow it further. Pull out the lettuce gently and pot it.

• To grow lettuce from seeds, plant the seeds about 1/4 inch deep in the soil and cover. Follow the instructions on the pack to ensure you are spacing the seeds correctly. Spacing might vary with the lettuce variety you are growing.

How To Grow Lettuce Quickly?

Lettuce can take a few months to fully grow. Ensure the following tips for their healthy growth -

• Never waterlog the lettuce plant. It requires a moist soil to grow. Keep watering the plant regularly but never over water or it can lead to a disease.
• You might see excess seedlings growing from the root at times. In this case, remove them but do this without disturbing the root of the lettuce plant.
• Lettuce doesn't require excess fertilisation. You can use a regular, balanced fertiliser every few weeks.

• Keep a check on pests like snails and aphids that grow quickly on the lettuce plant. Use a pest control spray or home remedies like neem oil to keep diseases at bay.
• Lettuce leaves are ready for consumption as they grow. You can wait for them to grow the desired size. Cut them using a sharp knife. Always harvest above the soil level.
• To keep your lettuce plant growing, plant new seeds every few weeks. This will help you get a fresh batch of lettuce almost every week.