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Salad leaves are the ideal crop for anyone with more enthusiasm than space. They are shallow-rooted, fast-growing and forgiving, which makes them perfect for the sort of containers that would otherwise end up at the tip: mushroom trays, broken washing-up bowls, old builders' buckets, wooden wine crates and the plastic tubs that cat litter or bird seed arrives in.
The only real requirement is depth. Aim for a minimum of 10cm of compost for lettuce, rocket and mizuna, and 15–20cm for spinach, chard or anything you want to crop repeatedly over several months. A standard 10-litre bucket will comfortably hold three or four cut-and-come-again lettuce plants; a shallow seed tray is fine for a single sowing of rocket that you plan to eat within a fortnight.
Do be sensible about provenance. Skip anything that has held weedkiller, motor oil, antifreeze or unknown chemicals, since residues can leach into the compost and damage your crop. Food-grade tubs, garden crates and old pots are all safe. Avoid anything that once contained creosote or wood preservative, and give salvaged containers a good scrub with hot soapy water before use.
Salad roots rot quickly in waterlogged compost, and a bucket with no drainage will turn into a swamp after the first heavy shower. Drill or punch holes of around 8–10mm, spacing them every 10cm or so around the base and adding one in the centre. If you are using a wooden crate, drill through the base rather than the sides.
Raise every container off the ground on bricks, timber offcuts or old bottle tops so water can drain freely and air can circulate underneath. This also keeps slugs and woodlice from marching straight in. A thin layer of broken polystyrene at the bottom of deep containers saves weight on balconies without harming drainage.
Use a good peat-free multipurpose compost, ideally mixed half and half with sieved garden compost or well-rotted leafmould. Don't reuse compost that has already grown tomatoes or potatoes, as it may carry disease. Fill to about 2cm below the rim, firm gently with your fingertips, then water thoroughly and let it settle before sowing.
Sow thinly — roughly one seed every 2cm — and cover with about 5mm of compost. Lightly firmed, moist compost is all the encouragement most leaves need. If you sow too thickly, thin the seedlings to 2–3cm apart once they have two true leaves; the thinnings are delicious in a sandwich. For herbs such as coriander, which resent root disturbance, raise them in modules and transplant while small.
Mix two or three types in one container for a varied cut, but keep strong growers such as chard separate so they don't smother the rocket.
Container compost dries out fast, and a plant that swings between drought and drenching turns bitter and bolts. Water little and often, ideally in the morning, and check by pushing a finger into the compost rather than guessing from the surface. In hot spells you may need to water twice a day.
Multipurpose compost runs out of steam after about six weeks, so give a dilute liquid feed — seaweed or a general tomato feed — once a week from the second cut onwards. Harvest with scissors when leaves are 8–10cm long, cutting 3–5cm above the crown and never taking the growing point in the centre. A container sown in April should give you three or four cuts before it tires.
The mistake most of us make is sowing an entire packet in one go and facing a glut followed by a bare patio. Sow a small tray or bucket every two to three weeks from early March to late August, and you will have a steady supply from spring into autumn. In midsummer, move containers into afternoon shade or onto a north-facing wall, as heat is what sends leaves bolting.
From September, switch to winter-hardy choices such as lamb's lettuce, land cress and winter purslane, and pop a cloche or a sheet of fleece over the containers once frosts threaten. Keep them off the ground and check beneath the rims for slugs after rain. With a bit of shuffling and a few holes drilled in an old bucket, you can be picking fresh leaves almost every month of the year.
The Pure Bower shares practical, down-to-earth guidance on sustainable garden design and outdoor living for readers across the UK.
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