Salads are an essential part of any vegetable garden, cherished for their ease of cultivation and variety. Whether your gardening space is extensive or just a small balcony, you can easily grow these delicious vegetables. From lettuce and chicory to escarole and arugula, how can you ensure a successful harvest throughout the year?
What soil to choose for successful salad cultivation?
For your salads to flourish, they particularly favor light, cool soil enriched with humus. You will achieve good results by adding compost, decomposed manure, or even a little fine sand to lighten the soil structure.
If you prefer container gardening, ensure good drainage by placing a few centimeters of clay balls or gravel at the bottom of the pot. Then, use at least 40 centimeters of specialized potting soil or a good sifted garden soil.
When to sow salad for year-round harvest?
Knowing when to sow is essential! In the heart of winter, starting in February or March, you can begin your indoor salad sowing. From spring through summer, once the risk of frost has passed, opt for outdoor sowing.
For tasty winter salads like lamb’s lettuce or endive, wait until late summer or early autumn. To ensure a continuous harvest, consider staggered sowing: plant a few seeds every two to three weeks to space out your harvests. Salad generally takes about six weeks to reach maturity.
Are you practicing lunar gardening? If so, keep this in mind:
- Sowing should be done on leaf days during the ascending moon.
- Transplant your salads during the descending moon.
What location to privilege?
Wondering which plants to associate with your crops? Good news: salads thrive alongside radishes, strawberries, peas, and carrots. However, be cautious with parsley and celery, as their proximity is unfavorable.
- In spring, plant your salads in a well-sunny spot.
- In summer, they prefer a partially shaded location with sun exposure only in the morning or late afternoon.
Don’t hesitate to plant salads in any empty spots in the garden; they will effectively fill those “gaps.”
Also, remember to practice crop rotation by alternating leafy vegetables (salads) with fruit vegetables (tomatoes, zucchinis…) and legumes to prevent diseases or soil deficiencies.
How to successfully sow or plant your salads?
There are two main methods to start your salads:
Direct sowing or in pots
You can sow directly in the ground (in a light trench prepared beforehand) by gently placing a seed every centimeter, or you can use individual pots with one or two seeds each.
In either case, be sure to keep the substrate moist without drowning the seed, and perform a thinning as soon as the first leaves appear, selecting the strongest plants.
Planting young plants
Buying young plants from a nursery saves you time. Ideally, plant them in the evening, spacing each plant about 25 cm apart. Set them in without burying the collar too deeply. A gentle compaction of the soil followed by good watering helps with better establishment.
You can cut the leaves back to about ten centimeters to promote faster growth of the plant.
Practical tips to take care of your salad plants
Here are essential tips to remember for beautiful salads:
- Water regularly, as salads need constant moisture. A lack of water will make the leaves bitter and tough.
- Regularly hoe around the plants to maintain loose, aerated soil, promoting better water penetration.
- Slugs greatly love young salads. To deter them, you can use natural methods (ashes, crushed eggshells) or set up effective traps like beer traps.
- Apply natural mulch (straw, dry grass clippings) around the plants, without getting too close to the collar. This limits weed growth, keeps slugs at bay, and preserves moisture long-term.
With these simple tips, you’ll soon be rewarded with fresh salads year-round, directly from your garden, balcony, or terrace.
And what about you? What’s your favorite salad variety in the garden? Do you have a personal tip for keeping slugs away? Do your potted plants thrive as well as those in the ground? Leave us a comment; we can’t wait to hear your thoughts!
