Leaf it on your plate

Save ££s on salads

YOU can kiss goodbye to pricey bags of lettuce when you grow your own crisp salad.

Vegetables, including peppers and tomatoes, can be squeezed into gaps in sunny borders and grown in pots on the patio. You can even save time by buying the young plants now.

An unforgettable salad contains many different colours, shapes, sizes and texture so select your ingredients from the seed catalogues.

Sow short rows and arrange the varieties so they are ready for harvesting over the same period. Then you can clear an entire area ready for sowing a second or third crop.

Salad leaves, radish and Tumbling Tom tomatoes make a stylish summer display in a container, too.

Seed companies offer mixed salad collections for home growing. They can be used as a catch crop between rows of garlic, onions, carrots and other slower growing vegetables to make the most of your veg plot.

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Crops usually grown for their roots, such as beetroot, radish, carrot and turnip, also have leaves that are tasty when harvested young. Succulent or crispy roots add texture and colour.

Nasturtium flowers are edible as well as dandelion leaves.

Don’t ever waste seedlings – salvage the thinnings of lettuce and grow them in pots and hanging baskets. They can be arranged around the dining table outdoors ready to be harvested as a pick ’n’ mix’ when dining al fresco.

Fresh herbs are wonderful in salads, adding colour and flavour as well as an interesting garnish. Even if you don’t have any soil to cultivate space, you can grow herbs in pots on a sunny windowsill, outdoors or indoors.

Micro veg or freshly germinated seedlings are a favourite of the top chefs. So if you want to plate up like a pro, grow your own.

Sow them in the usual way but harvest in two weeks or soon after they emerge opposed to three or four months when they are mature.

For the tastiest tiny veggies, grow seedlings of spinach, red cabbage, courgettes, carrots and basil as well as classic salad leaves.

Sow them every two weeks for a continual, tasty supply.