The Green Dream!

Now I can be called eccentric! I have literally planted salad greens in all empty pots, even under the lemon tree!

Well that’s what happen when your salad seeds never work and after two years of struggle you get more than 100 plants for just Rs. 50/- ! ! !

But I dint just by 100, bought 200 instead! One set is half grown and the other just sprouted.

This was the first time that I found salad and some other vegetables being grown in nurseries. We usually find fruits but hardly any vegetable. It shows that people are getting involved in vegetable gardening.

Lettuce has many varieties. Butterhead, looseleaf, crisphead, romaine, mesclun, endive, mustard, radicchio, Chinese lettuce, summer crunch are just few of its crispy wonders! And now hybrid and heirloom varieties are available in shades of reds and yellows too.

The salad variety that I bought is the same one that we get in market. It’s the loose leaf type; Probably the Simpson elite type. The other that I have sown is the butterhead one.

It is one of the oldest vegetables that originated from Asia.
Best thing about lettuce is that it can be harvested at any stage. You can start picking looseleaf lettuce as the leaves grow, leaving rest of the plant to grow. Butterhead and other varieties are harvested as a whole.

In Karachi, we have to wait for winters to grow these. Otherwise lettuce can be grown from spring onwards in other parts of the world. It depends upon your growing zone.

Lettuce is said to be pest free crop that requires less maintenance. It grows well in pots as these have shallow roots, they do not require depth.

Scrumptious greens make wonderful salads, shawarmas, sandwiches, burgers, roti rolls and what not!! ! I have already eaten a portion from my baby plants. Can’t help myself!

Lettuce greens were my inspiration to start a vegetable garden. And now that they plants are finally part of my crops in pots garden; I have planted them where ever I could and trust me, my father is not so happy about it!

(There are still some empty paint buckets upstairs, hmm, and many more lettuce plants too: P)

You must try these irresistible greens!

Happy Gardening!

~Zahra