Grow to eat: sow lettuce every few weeks for a summer of salad

I want more salads. They taste great and involve less cooking, so it’s win-win. This year I’m aiming to perfect successional salad growing, especially with lettuce. I used to worry about keeping the crop watered in mid-summer, but with a good weekly soaking I’ve found it never dries out.

In theory, succession growing is easy. You sow fast-growing veg every few weeks, creating a conveyor belt of crops, starting outside now. When one batch is eaten the next is ready. In practice, however, it becomes confusing – the mountain of seed packets with forgotten deadlines begins to appear in my nightmares. To combat this, I’m dedicating a bed to salad, sowing 4ft (1.2m) rows of a few crops and leaving space for two later rows of each. I’ll add a new row every two to three weeks, then start again as the first one empties.

I’m using a mix of cut-and-come- again lettuce including ‘Bughatti’ (chilternseeds.co.uk), plus those that form small, leafy hearts such as ‘Amaze’ and ‘Little Gem’ (mr-fothergills.co.uk). Both types suit the “grow fast, eat lots” mentality. I avoid crinkled leaves because they hide slug and caterpillar stowaways. Other salads you can sow like this are radish, beetroot and spring onion.

In smaller gardens consider using the vertical space of walls. Wall pockets (see Amazon or eBay) are an inexpensive living wall alternative and outdoor shelves for pots are just as good – sow one row or shelf at a time for a living buffet.

Always label seeds to avoid having to add “where”, “what” and even “if” to the list of things to remember. I’ve been there – at least, I think I have.

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