Our Home Grown Salad Leaves are Saving us Money.

Salad Leaves.

Salads leaves that you cut and which grow again a couple of times are really worth while. The little bit of time and effort it takes to sprinkle the seeds over the surface of a flower pot full of compost is just five minutes or so. In return you can pick leaves that would cost £'s if bought bagged,ready picked, ready washed salad leaves.

  You can stand the flower pot with the salad leaves growing in it, near the kitchen door. That way you have a handy source of salad leaves ready to prepare for a quick meal or a snack.

If youu wish you can sow and grow these leaves in raised bead, containers or directly into prepared soil. Prepare as a seed bed and sow as per instructions on seed packets.

There are lots of different types of cut and grow again salad leaf seeds for sale. Which ones you decide  to grow depends on you and your salad eating preference. There are some leaves that are spicy and peppery but most are a pretty mix of leaf shapes and colours. My favourite types come in a mix of red and green salad leaf colours.

If you are not sure of the type of seed to use for this here is a page selling packets of leaves of this type:

'All Seasons salad leaf seed' a mix that can be grown outdoors in summer and on the windowsill in winter time.

A fast growing salad mix called 'Speedy Mix' which can be ready in 25 days if the weather is right. 

A salad mix called 'Bright and Spicy'. 

The above are links to a UK site that sells seeds and plants.

Pick the leaves gently as and when you want them and they should re-grow two or three times. 

Let the kids have a go at growing their own salad all it takes is a few seeds sprinkled over the surface of a container filled with seed compost.

Gently cover over as per packet directions and the children will love watching the seeds grow.  Use one of the milder tasting salad leaf seed mixes for this as they will enjoy eating the lettuce better than some of the spicy tasting ones like rocket.

Seeds That are Easy to Grow, grow your own food.

Courgettes are easy to grow  from seeds.

Courgettes are easy to grow from seeds and the flowers are attractive too. Courgettes are called Zucchini in Italy and in Italy they cook and eat the flowers as well.  

Courgettes grow on the plant so fast that you need to check and harvest them daily so that they do not grow into marrow size and 'toughen up'.

You will find that the courgette seeds are large enough to be handled individually (they look like melon seeds)  they are slightly bigger than a flattened orange pip. 


You push them into the soil or compost on their side. They need a rich soil to grow in because they grow so rapidly.

One courgette plant will continue to supply you with courgettes as you pick, it is not one courgette per.plant. An easy mistake for beginners is to plant too many courgette plants and to end up with a glut of them. There are two ways to grow them one is to plant them directly in the vegetable garden and the other is to start them off in a pot and then transfer them when the weather is favourable.

Radishes - are quick and easy to grow from seed.

Radishes grow quickly from seed. They are one of the simplest things to grow. There are three simple stages to growing radishes.

You sow them to the depth recommended on the seed packet, thin them out if