How to Grow Salad Greens In A Pot
I love to grow salad greens in one big pot. It is so easy.
And anyone with a deck or a patio (or a sunny window in the winter) can do this.
I sow all the salad greens that I love to eat, into one big pot, then pick the leaves when they are small. It will be an aromatic medley of salad greens.
Low maintenance and convenient. Easy peasy.
No need to plant them separately and no need to plant them in rows. If the seeds are sown thick enough there is no need to worry about weeds. You will thin the plants as you cut them so one variety will not take over the other.
Above is a picture of the pot that I sowed mid winter in a sunny window. It is outside that window now. I have not been cutting hard enough these last few weeks and the lettuce has taken over! Which is fine.
These pots are wonderful for your sustainably managed kitchen. No food waste, the greens are picked fresh and highly nutritious. No transport costs. No plastic. All good.
But first: a sunrise.
You can see that the rock lined duck pond is coming along.
Easy Salad Greens Grown in a Pot on the Deck
For those of you following the Greens in a Pot. Above is what is on my deck at the moment. These seeds are still germinating. More come up every day.
After I mix the seeds all together in a cup I sprinkle them (somewhat) evenly over the top of the media in the pot. Cover with a little sifted soil/potting media. Then a newspaper and keep moist. Water the newspaper. Take the newspaper off the pot when the seeds start to sprout.
This pot has begun to germinate.
In this pot is parsley, beets, cabbage, spinach, kale, arugula and lettuce.
Into those gaps I am going to pop some onion sets, for green onions as well.
This suits a lazy gardener like me! I eat salad greens every day. If you pick (with little scissors) low and often – but not too hard – the greens will continue to grow for months.
I will try and post this for you every week or so, then you can see the progression, this is the easiest way to plant greens for your salad. A one stop shop!
I will sow a similar mix into the garden today (though I will add peas) – it is overcast and I like to sow and plant in overcast days and later in the spring I will sow the chard and silver beet. Chard and silver beet do not mind the heat.
Kale tends to bolt if it gets too hot. And if this happens I move the pot into a cooler corner.
Still debating whether to find some fertile duck eggs to put under a duck.
Weather
I suddenly realised that I have not explained this weather screen shot.
I take a screen shot of the weather app in the morning .
So today it was 56f at 6.30 am and will reach a high of 80f then an overnight low of 56f forecast for tonight.
Today we have lovely night temperatures so all the pots are outside.
But Sunday and Monday the overnight temperatures are forecast to go back down to freezing with a little snow forecast.
The plants in pots will all be crammed back into the glasshouse for the weekend!
It is springtime and the temperatures are still heaving themselves all over the place. So whats new?!
Take Care and Talk soon
Celi
39 Comments on “How to Grow Salad Greens In A Pot”
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I’ll bring the dressing Cecilia!
Yes! I am loving making that Goddess dressing with yoghurt and herbs. !!
Great idea to mix the seeds and there for have a mixed greens salad. I think I shall do the same in a pot on the deck, of course once it is warm enough! I liked your weather screen shot when it also showed Celsius so I know how warm or cold you are! Have a great weekend Celi!
Yes! I will apply the Celsius from tomorrow – it was getting a bit muddled this morning!
I was thinking that if I only ever taught people how to make their own salad pot then I could die happy!
I do this too in a wine barrel. The residual wine adds a nice flavor to my greens or whatever else I grow in it! lol! Question..how do you know which duck eggs are fertile to pop under an unsuspecting duck mum?
I have a few friends with ducks that hatch their eggs every year so it will be a better chance for ducklings than they have now anyway!
Christina, I was wondering that too, as I didn’t think you had male ducks Celi? We have two ducks sitting nests now, and they are so diligent. I know they must get off the nests to eat and drink, but I never see them doing it! Soon we will have ducklings! 🙂
dianeandjack…Do you have a blog? Would love to see your ducklings when they hatch! 🙂
Christina, I don’t… But I can send you pictures if you send me your email address! 🙂 We also have precious baby goats that I could send you some pics of!
I would love that and since I had to say good-bye to my last beloved goat, Smidgen the photos of your “kids” would make me smile. My e-mail is christinalfrutiger@comcast.net Thank-you..I’ll look forward to hearing from you! 🙂
We have two males that I am sure of. But never any chicks – not in all these years!
We are trying planting in pots this year and so far all good – have beans, tomatoes, peppers, zukes, and squash. Also, after we figured out from a nursery the culprit of our lime tree trunk was a rabbit that tree is going to produce limes and more limes. Happy Day – Enjoy 🙂
Was the rabbit digging under the tree? So glad you have limes – I wold LOVE limes!
No, it was chewing on the trunk of the lime tree and caused quite the wound. It is now wrapped with chicken wire and the tree is healing and producing again. YAY!!!
Poor wee tree!!! What a bad rabbit.
Salad greens in one big pot is a great idea.
Could you rent or borrow a male duck with a proven track record, to help the ladies?
I have a friend who has ducks and a few drakes (I think) – so I thought I might just swap out their eggs for hers? Though those mother ducks are fierce when sitting on eggs.
You could get the chicken to hatch the ducks and if you get a male or two, they could help the mothers of the future.
They sit really well – no problem with that – I think the problem is that the ducks are cross bred and not fertile.
Every summer they sit for weeks on rotting eggs. So sad.
Ha ha – I was thinking more that the chicken would be more friendly when you introduce the eggs 😉
Ah yes! Well that is true!!
We’ve found it tough for the ducklings if they are hatched by a chicken as the hen loses interest as soon as she realizes they aren’t her chicks. And then the ducklings are pretty much on their own. 😦 With their own mothers our ducklings follow her around for months.
That’s a shame. I read that in the old days, French farmers in Gascony used to put their duck eggs under the chicken because ducks can be very lazy – that bit I know to be true 😉
Yes! That was going to be my question – how to get the ducklings into the duck flock. I think mine are good sitters. The ducks – I mean they have hatched out chicken eggs!
How much heat can a mix like this withstand C? My small area gets full sun for most of the day and there is radiant heat from the brick walls of the building. I think that’s too much? and I really have no place to move pots in and out of shade so I think this will be an inside project, but such a good one! I have lovely south facing windows with lots of light and now see my never used dining table turning into a place for pots of lettuce!
I have them outside all summer.
You will need to water more frequently. And maybe early summer or late summer? I would try and see what happens.
Thank you!
Thanks for this!
You are welcome Beth!
I like the idea of a salad pot. I have a pot that I was wondering about (whether to keep it). Now I know. Thank you; I love my daily salad greens too.
Yes! And if you plant it with with winter greens then it can stay outside for at least a few months – I would think.
I love this idea. I’m going away all may though so I’ll have to try in June. Hope it works.
Yes! June will definitely work. I sow one once every 6 weeks of so.
I will give this a go….thank you:)
So far our garden is doing great! All raised beds of course! We’ll be eating broccoli next week! Being warmer down here we’ve got spring veggies in and doing great; cabbage, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, beets, carrots, onions, leeks, potatoes, sugar snap peas, and radishes. We just planted our peppers and are keeping our fingers crossed that the temps don’t dip too much. Like you up there, the weekend will be chilly at night, but not freezing.
That sounds awesome. Your gardens are lush/ our broccoli is still tiny! I am tempted to buy a few plants to tide us over – once the bad weather is done. Out last frost date is the end of April so we have time.
Now that we’re coming into cooler weather, I’ll be doing something similar. I like a mix of romaine, spinach, basil and rocket/arugula. I’ll also be putting out a small pot of mint because I like fresh mint tea, but the dratted thing dies every time the temperature gets too high.
I just purchased several seed packages and will try your idea. Although I sow seeds of mixed lettuces, I’ve never tried such a variety in a mix. I will keep you posted. Great idea to use newspaper on top. Thank you.
You are welcome! I hope you like it.