Each year in a garden some things go well, some things are disappointing, and, rarely there is a total failure. To balance that there is the occasional surprising success. So it was last year with my lettuces; they were the best I have ever grown. A salad made from freshly picked lettuce from the garden is a wonderful experience.

It all started with a garden tour some years ago when I was shown a rectangular container of brilliant green leaf lettuce sitting by the back door. There and then I promised myself that I would grow lettuces in my own garden, in a container in the meadow where there is a good deal of sun.

Seeds of more and different sorts of lettuce are now available both in catalogues and in the stores and it
is a good idea to know what to look for. There are crisp head lettuces such as the popular iceberg; softer leaved Butterhead lettuce such as Buttercrunch, Romaine (or Cos) lettuce... a must for Caesar Salad and finally a big choice of leaf lettuces which include the oakleaf varieties. In all these categories there are both green leaved and red leaved varieties, grown together they give a wonderful display of colour both in the garden and on the salad plate. The red leaves however should be picked when young as they grow older they will turn green and may taste slightly bitter.

It is the leaf lettuces which will be the most useful in containers. The great thing about leaf lettuce is that you can start eating them as you thin the plants to give them more space to grow and then as they get bigger you can take leaves off them every time you want a salad, and still they grow. When the hot weather starts it is wise to take the whole plant for your salad as eventually they get tired of producing new leaves.

Lettuces need cool weather to germinate and grow well, they like a rich well drained soil and plenty of water.
A mulch is a good idea as it keeps the soil cool and damp and I find that it protects the plants from being spattered with mud in a rainstorm. However it is very necessary to watch for slugs, this is easier in containers than in the open ground. If possible keep continuous planting going so you are never without salad. For most of the summer this is quite easy but germinating the seeds in August for a fall crop is a challenge and I have not yet found a sure way of succeeding.

There are a good many varieties of lettuce available in Canadian catalogues, both Stokes Seeds and William Dam have a great selection more probably than in the local garden outlets. However there are some special ones which come from American sources, At Thompson and Morgan (800-274-7333 for free catalogue) I found packets of five different varieties of leaf lettuces in one package, each packaged separately.
I found this was a perfect way of having a variety for my salads and also a staggered maturity in the plants. Veseys (800-363-7333) too had a big variety to choose from for example three different mixes of mesclun.

Mesclun is a very popular salad mix, in fact the main ingredient of Californian salad. It is a mixture of special baby greens both tangy and mild. Seed mixtures are described as either mild or zesty. The greens can be cut within a month of seeding and after being clipped will regrow for another harvest. Like the lettuce the leaves of the plants are green, red and even deep purple or bronze, it makes a delicious and colourful salad.

Tomatoes are a must for salad and although there isn’t space to describe them in any detail I would like to mention some that are specially grown for containers and some that are fun to try.

Tomatoes need full sun, very rich soil and a great deal of water and the one that has been my favorite for years is Sungold a very sweet golden yellow cherry type, again from Thompson and Morgan. However in Canada both Stokes Seeds and William Dam list tomatoes specially chosen for containers. Stokes also lists a striped tomato appropriately named Tigrette, it is plum shaped with yellow and red stripes and ornamental yellowish green foliage. What fun on the patio, but I have not tried it myself yet.

With a pot of basil close by on your patio you will have all the makings of wonderful salads. Bon appetit.

Rachel McLeod has many years of experience in gardening... particularly with herbs. She occasionally lectures on herbs and plants for natural gardens.
She can be reached at 905-659-1001

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