2UE lettuce growing tips and recipes

Lettuce tastes best when grown rapidly in well-fertilised soil in lots of sunshine, and with a steady supply of water. Prepare the soil well beforehand: add plenty of chicken poo (eg, Dynamic Lifter) and compost and dig it in well.

To plant seedlings: just remove each seedling from the punnet and put it into the soil, and firm around the base of the plant with your fingers so it's snug in the ground. Check the label to get the plant spacings right (around 25-30cm apart is average). Water in seedlings with a watering can to which you've added a capful of Seasol, to encourage the roots to grow.

To plant seed: just scatter the seed lightly over the soil surface, then lightly cover the seed with a sprinkling of seed-raising mix, to barely cover the seed (but you can just cover the seed with a thin layer of soil, if you like). Then lightly water it with a mist sprayer. Keep the seed-raising mix moist, and the seeds should come up in about seven to 14 days.

Growing in pots: lettuce grows well in pots. Just choose a sunny spot for your pot, use the biggest pot you can fit in there and fill it with good quality potting mix. The main problem with pots is that they dry out faster, so you'll need to be very good about keeping the pot watered.

Fertilising and care: keep lettuce well watered, and also keep them growing steadily by giving them a liquid feed (mixed up in a watering can) every fortnight with Nitrosol or whatever you prefer to use.

Beyond salads: other uses for lettuce

Steaming vegies: a classic method of cooking vegies is to line the inside of a saucepan with lettuce leaves, add some vegies (eg, carrots, peas, broad beans, green beans) and cook the vegies slowly in the lettuce juice, and the juice of the vegies themselves. You'll be amazed how rich the flavour can be. Most recipes ask you to add a tablespoon or two of water, plus some butter, pepper and salt and maybe some finely chopped herbs or spring onions, but you can just steam the vegies plain (with a couple of tablespoons of water added) and they'll come out beautifully. The best lettuce for this method are the hearting types, such as Iceberg or Cos. This is a slow cooking method, done over low heat, with a lid on the saucepan, usually for about 30-40 minutes.

Finger food wraps: large lettuce leaves can make great wrappers for finger foods. For example, slip the cooked chicken or meat off a satay stick, dollop on some peanut sauce, then wrap in in a lettuce leaf as finger food. Or make up some nachos using beef or beans, dollop on a spoonful of guacamole, and wrap it up in a lettuce leaf. Wrap trick: to make a non-leaky wrap, don't pile in too much filling, put the filling in the centre of the leaf - then fold over the bottom of the wrap first, then the left side, then the right side. Leave the top open. The folded bottom section catches any juice that might dribble down.

Copyright CTC Productions 2008