Sowing, growing and harvesting mixed salad leaves
Watch our animated guides to to sowing, growing and harvesting your salad.
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Get sowing
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Get growing
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Get harvesting
Instructions
April to August - Sow, sow, sow
Sow your seeds thinly into:
- - a pot or window box filled with multipurpose compost
- - a growing bag from your local garden centre
- - well-raked soil, in a shallow trench no deeper than your thumbnail
Cover with a fine layer of soil or compost and then water. For a continuous supply of salad sow more seeds every few weeks. Space rows 20cm apart. In hot weather, delay sowing until late afternoon.
April to September - Grow, grow, grow
Keep plants well watered during dry spells, especially those in containers. These plants don't need thinning out, but they may need protecting from hungry slugs and snails. Try eggshells around your seedlings, as slugs don't like rough surfaces!
May to October - Grub's up
When leaves reach 10-15cm long, start harvesting by pulling off the outer leaves by hand, or just snip the whole lot off with scissors. Leave 4-5cm behind, and especially avoid the growing tips in the middle so the plants can keep growing and you can keep munching.
Some of the leaves in the mix will grow faster than others, but you should be able to make several harvests before the plants run to seed.
Your Dig In salad packet contains: Red Salad Bowl, Red Chard, Spinach, Green Lobjoits Cos, Mizuna and Oakleaf Cocarde.
