I planted 1 vegetable Monty Don claims is the ‘easiest of all plants to grow’ in 3 minutes

Monty Don has revealed nearly 20 tasks that gardening enthusiasts should be tackling in April as part of his monthly blog, several of which involve planting vegetables . After planting shallots in my garden last month , I was eager to grow some more vegetables, so I looked to Monty Don’s blog for some inspiration. The garden expert stated that lettuce is “one of the easiest of all plants to grow”, and freshly harvested, home-grown lettuce “always tastes wonderful”.

He pointed out that lettuces thrive best in mild, moist conditions, so spring is the perfect time to sow their seeds. I opted for the Merveille de Quatre Saisons lettuce variety as they are known for their “excellent flavour”, according to Sarah Raven. To sow the lettuce seeds, I started by grabbing an old plastic fruit container to use as the pot and filling it halfway with a mixture of damp soil and compost.



The next step was to add a small amount of the seeds. A few seeds sown thinly will "provide healthier, leafier lettuces" rather than a cluster of thick seedlings, according to Monty. After, I covered the seeds with a layer of compost before spraying it with water to help dampen the compost and soil more.

To give the lettuce seeds the best chance of sprouting and not being destroyed by birds or slugs, I’m keeping them in my greenhouse. Monty recommends keeping lettuce in the greenhouse at the start before transplanting the seedlings outside when they’re robust to avoid slug damage, as “you cannot protect the delicate seedlings from slug attack”. If you don’t have garden space, lettuce also makes a fantastic container plant.

They have shallow root systems and can be grown in window boxes, baskets, planters or any container that is at least four to six inches deep and has drainage holes. When transplanting lettuce into my garden, I’ll make sure to plant them in a grid pattern, spacing each seedling about ten inches apart. Lettuce takes about six to eight weeks to grow large enough to eat and will remain good for another month or so if kept watered and cool.

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