growing salad year round.

[kentishgal]

I thought I would attempt to grow some salad leaves and lettuce on my windowsill. I picked varieties that can be grown all year round and put them in a mini window sill propagator. However all I have to show after 3 and a half weeks is several shrivelled shoots and a couple of 3in tall shoots that still only have their seed leaves.
Maybe if someone could tell me how they grow theirs I could work out what Im doing wrong!!LOL

[Feral007]

I've put some red mignonette lettuce seedlings into the ground here as Jackie French who gardens in a cold area here says they will grow all winter if their roots get going before the really cold weather. We've put them in in some potting mix over the top of some hay. Then watered them and added about 1-2 cm of chaff around them and watered again. They are going great guns. We're having really sunny days but the o/night temps have been between -1C up to 10C in the last 2 weeks.
They aren't getting cooked by the glass during the day are they? My beetroot seedlings got cooked before they got their roots going, and are just a couple of spindly things.

[Two_Sheds]

several shrivelled shoots and a couple of 3in tall shoots that still only have their seed leaves.

They don't have enough light, that's why they are tall & spindly. You'll notice a massive difference if you move them somewhere lighter & try again (lettuce doesn't need heat, in fact it's a cool climate crop)

[zazen999]

And it's only been 3 weeks.

I do this:
Sow a pinch of seeds in a pot and leave it in an unheated greenhouse or cold frame. When it's up and the seedlings have 2 true leaves, prick out into your trough or [I use] a seed tray to grow on. Then sow another pinch. Keep doing this all year and you will have year round lettuce.

Once the seed tray seedlings have about 4-6 true leaves, and more importantly a good root system, they get transplanted into their beds. Watered in, mulched with sawdust or straw and then left to it.

[BarleySugar]

I planted some red mustard, mitzuna and rocket in the grobag along with the tomatoes which will live there all summer. Although the salad leaves are quite tall, the tomatoes haven't got drawn up, and look healthier than some of the others in pots. I think it might be because the salad sowings have kept them warmer at night. I really must get some more in though.

[Pa Snips]

I think Zazen's reply confirms what I was thinking...they might be too warm. I sowed some mixed salad leaves in a cold greenhouse and was thinning (and eating the thinnings ) after a few weeks.

[Newton]

Heres a good read for salad year round.

Salad Leaves for All Seasons: Organic Growing from Pot to Plot: Amazon.co.uk: Charles Dowding: Books

[kentishgal]

ah well.....at least a packet of seeds is cheap to experiment with!
Ive now gone from a warm room in full sun to a unheated room in more diffuse light. I might also sow a tray and put it in the blowaway in the garden.
Im determined to get one of these little ****ers to grow for me even if I am reduced to shouting at it and threatening with a big stick a la Basil Fawlty!!LOL

[Two_Sheds]

Ive now gone from a warm room in full sun to a unheated room in more diffuse light.

They need light. As much as you can give them.

Outside would be fine in Kent, in April. Put them in the blowaway