What salad can be grown on the windowsill

Not all city dwellers have their own land on which to do gardening. But even from this situation there is a way out, for example, try to grow lettuce on the windowsill at home. This will not require significant costs, but it can diversify the menu, especially in winter.

Is it possible to grow lettuce on a windowsill

You can grow lettuce on a windowsill, and many do it quite successfully at home. Of course, there are quite a few nuances in such agricultural technology.

Growing lettuce on a windowsill is pretty easy.

This applies to both the growing process itself and the planting material used, since not all lettuce varieties can grow indoors.

What salad can be grown on the windowsill in winter

In order to successfully grow lettuce on a windowsill, it is important, first of all, to choose a suitable variety for this. It must have the following characteristics:

1. Possibility of cultivation in closed ground conditions.
2. Shooting resistance.
3. Growth in conditions of short daylight hours or under artificial lighting.
4. Short term of maturing.

All these conditions are met by the following varieties:

1. Fan. This variety of lettuce belongs to the Batavia species, which is considered by many to be ideal for growing at home. It takes about 30-35 days to mature. Bright green curly leaves are collected in a large rosette, the plant does not form a head of cabbage. The consistency of the leaf is juicy, dense, the fracture occurs with a characteristic crunch. The taste is pleasant.
   Important! The variety has excellent shoot resistance.
   

   Aficion belongs to the leaf and does not form a head

2. Fanley. This variety of lettuce also belongs to the Batavia species. The leaves are curly, green, collected in a large outlet, the mass of which can reach up to 0,4 kg. This variety of lettuce takes about 35 days to fully ripen. In greenhouses, it is often grown for sale because it has an attractive appearance and good transportability.
   
   

   Fanli is grown in many greenhouses

3. Lettuce. Popular in many countries and well-known type of annual lettuce, which is grown in artificial conditions. It includes such popular varieties as Maisky, Odessa, Snezhinka. All of them have similar characteristics. Lettuce ripens quite quickly, after 1 month its leaves can be eaten. Lettuce can be grown all year round, which is what many farmers in Europe, America and Japan are successfully doing. In Our Country, this type of salad is not so popular, since many of its varieties have a slight bitterness in taste.
   
   

   Lettuce can be grown on a windowsill all year round

4. Iceberg. This type of lettuce can be found under the names ice lettuce, ice mountain or ice lettuce. A feature of this species is the head shape of the leaves. They are light green, juicy and crispy. A head of cabbage can have a mass of up to 1 kg. The peculiarity of this salad is the taste of the leaves, which is not like the traditional one. It is slightly sweet, in addition, it often manifests a slight bitterness. Ice lettuce keeps well fresh, it may not lose its culinary properties for up to 3 weeks.
   
   

   Ice salad has the shape of a head of cabbage

5. Romano. This type of annual head lettuce is a relative of lettuce. The leaves are light green, strongly elongated, collected in a rather loose head of cabbage. A distinctive feature of Romano is the taste. It is very delicate, with nutty notes. Due to its bright taste, this species is traditionally used to make Caesar salad.
   
   

   The elongated head of Romano is easy to distinguish from other varieties

6. Watercress. Quite a few varieties belong to this species, such as Vitaminchik, Dukat, Abundant-leaved. All of them ripen in 30-45 days from the moment of planting, and the first greens can be obtained in 2-2,5 weeks. All types of watercress are unpretentious, they tolerate the indoor microclimate well.
   
   

   Watercress contains many useful substances in its composition.

You can grow other types of lettuce on the windowsill. There are a lot of suitable varieties for this.

How to plant lettuce leaves at home on the windowsill

Agrotechnics for growing lettuce from seeds on the windowsill is standard and, depending on the variety, varies slightly. By following these general recommendations, you can easily get the look you like in an apartment or private house.

Soil preparation and planting capacity

To grow lettuce at home on the windowsill, you can adapt any available container of suitable size, such as a flower pot, a plastic container or a wooden box. The latter are best used for leaf species, but large-headed varieties need to be grown in separate large pots. Be sure to use drainage from small pebbles or pebbles, laid in a layer at the bottom of the tank, as well as a tray to collect excess moisture.

For planting lettuce, you can use a variety of containers.

As for the soil, lettuce does not make any special demands. To grow it on the windowsill, you can use purchased soil for seedlings or prepare the soil mixture with your own hands by mixing sand, humus and soddy soil in equal proportions. Planting containers must be thoroughly washed, disinfected, and then filled with earth almost to the top.

Preparation of planting material

Beginning gardeners for growing lettuce at home in winter on the windowsill use, as a rule, the seed method. Planting material, namely the seeds of the variety you like, can be purchased at the store or ordered online. Before planting, the seeds are soaked for a day in cold water, so their germination capacity increases. If there are doubts about the quality of the seeds, then before sowing they are additionally kept for 15-20 minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate.

Rules for planting lettuce on the windowsill

For growing on a windowsill, seeds are planted quite tightly. This is done with the expectation that then thinning is carried out, rejecting weak sprouts. The landing procedure itself is not difficult. Grooves about 1 cm deep are drawn on the surface of the earth, placing them at a distance of about 1 cm from each other.

Lettuce seeds are planted densely, with the expectation of subsequent thinning

Seeds are sown in them, and then lightly powdered with earth. The soil is slightly moistened with a spray bottle, then the container is covered with a film or glass and cleaned in a warm place.

Caring for lettuce leaves on the windowsill

Before the emergence of seedlings, the container with the planted seeds is periodically ventilated, removing the transparent cover from them. If the soil dries out, it must be moistened with a spray bottle of slightly warm softened water. Seedlings appear pretty quickly. After 5-7 days, the first sprouts may appear. From this moment, the shelter from the containers with seedlings is removed, and the containers themselves are transferred to a lighted place, as a rule, on a windowsill or a table installed next to the window.

Optimal conditions for growing lettuce in a pot on a windowsill

At a normal room temperature of about + 22-24 ° C, lettuce grows very well on the windowsill. However, in winter, it can be cold near the window, so at such a time it is better to clean it away, deep into the room. In heated rooms, as a rule, the humidity is very low, so the seedlings are sprayed 1-2 times a day with settled water at room temperature.

Spraying with water compensates for the lack of humidity in the room

Light day in winter is clearly insufficient for the normal growth of most varieties of lettuce. In this case, only artificial lighting with additional light sources helps. You can use standard fluorescent lamps to illuminate plants, fixing them above the containers. However, it is more rational to use special phytolamps that give light of certain color ranges. With the help of lighting devices, the daylight hours are artificially increased, bringing it up to 13-14 hours.

With the help of phytolamps artificially increase the length of daylight hours

Watering

Lettuce loves water and requires regular watering, otherwise its leaves will lose their juiciness and crispy texture characteristic of this plant, and become lethargic. Water the plants once a day, usually in the morning. The condition of the soil must be monitored and not allowed to dry out.

Dressing lettuce on the windowsill

When grown indoors, lettuce is generally not required. Fertilizer is applied only if there is a clear lag in growth. For top dressing, you can use any composition for indoor flowers, which must be diluted in water and applied to the root zone.

Liquid flower fertilizers are used to feed lettuce.

The dosage of the drug is calculated in accordance with the instructions for use of each specific fertilizer.

Useful Tips

There are many recommendations from experienced gardeners that allow you to grow lettuce on the windowsill at the lowest cost and with good efficiency. Here are the main points to pay attention to:

1. Lettuce does not tolerate a pick, so it is not transplanted.
2. The first thinning should be done after a couple of leaves appear on the plant. Further rarefaction of plantings is carried out as the plants grow in such a way as to prevent competition between neighboring sprouts.
3. Head lettuce varieties are thinned out more or planted in individual containers, as they require more free space than leaf ones.
4. In winter, containers are best kept on the windowsill on the south or southwest side of the house.
5. To constantly have fresh greens at the table, it is recommended to plant seeds at intervals of 10-14 days. If varieties have different ripening periods, then you need to focus on this indicator.
6. If the lettuce has released a flower arrow, then it is better to immediately remove the entire bush. The greens on it almost immediately become rough and lose their taste.

Conclusion

Growing lettuce on a windowsill is easy, even in winter. This is a good way to diversify the menu with fresh herbs, besides, the leaves of this plant are not only tasty, but also very useful because they contain a large amount of valuable organic compounds and trace elements. And for enterprising people, growing lettuce indoors can be a good business.