‘Tis the season for growing in earnest

to choose from such as sweet, anise-flavoured Thai basil, purple-leafed ‘Dark Opal’ (pictured) and the pungent ‘Fino Verde’ basil (from Kings Seeds). There’s also super-sized ‘Foglie di lattuga’ – known as lettuce leaf basil – from Italian Seeds Pronto, or if you simply can’t decide, there are blended packs of seed with multiple varieties such as ‘Gourmet Mix’ from Yates.

The fastest are the loose-leaf lettuce varieties as you don’t need to wait until the plant fully matures before harvesting. Instead, you simply pick leaves as required and the plant will keep on growing – provided you don’t take off too much foliage at once!

However, having a good mix of both lettuce types can provide a more varied selection for the dinner table.

I must say, while I love a good oak leaf lettuce salad, I much prefer the thick, slightly more substantial leaves from a hearting lettuce in my sandwiches! But lettuce is lettuce and it all tastes good along with that satisfying crunch to cool you down on summer days.

Lettuce can be raised from seed in trays, but it’s much easier to sow it direct. Scatter seed over your soil and water it in. You don’t even need to cover it, although to stop it blowing away, I do give it a sprinkling with a handful or two of seed-raising mix.

Lettuce germinates in one week and the leaves can be picked from around the 30 day mark. Hearting varieties usually take around 60 days before they’re ready to be picked as a whole plant, however that’s never stopped me from picking off the outer leaves as required. It doesn’t hurt them!

Keep planting and sowing every month to ensure an ongoing supply and you’ll never need to buy it again.

You’ll need to protect seedlings from slugs and snails but be warned that sparrows are particularly partial to it as well, so if they’re a problem where you live it’s probably best to use some sort of cover. Birds are an issue at my place so I’ve been using a set of giant stainless-steel hoops with bird netting fastened over the top. It has paid for itself many times over and saved a lot of heartbreak. Order the hoops online at www.growingthings.co.nz. This column is adapted from the weekly e-zine, get growing, from New Zealand Gardener magazine. For gardening advice delivered to your inbox every Friday, sign up for Get Growing at: getgrowing.co.nz

care for them religiously (ie. twice-daily watering) and feed weekly with liquid fertiliser to keep them in top-notch health.