Sow lettuce for overwintering
Sow lettuce seeds in a greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill now and they’ll be ready for planting outside as your veg plot starts to empty. Slot the young lettuce plants into spaces left behind when harvesting any other veg, maximising your plot’s productivity over the winter and providing you with an early harvest for next spring.
Sowing lettuce in trays now means you can get ahead with your next crops, while keeping veg like carrots and beetroot in the ground for longer, providing you with fresher produce for longer.
Plant the lettuces out 10-20cm apart once they are at least 4cm tall before the end of October while the soil is still warm, and water in well. The larger the size, the better their chances of surviving slug attacks, droughts or heavy rain. Some varieties are hardier than others and you may need to use cloches or horticultural fleece for anything more than light frost over the winter. VISIT gardenersworld.com/seeds-bulbs for more tips on sowing vegetable seeds