Vertical lettuce gardens provide multiple benefits, such as allowing you to utilize space better and preventing pests from taking over your plants. Growing lettuce vertically will also reduce the time and energy needed to maintain your plants.
Keep reading to learn about all the benefits on offer and some tips about the best way to grow lettuce in a vertical garden so that you can grow like a pro.
Can You Grow Lettuce In A Vertical Garden?
Not only is it possible to grow lettuce in a vertical garden, whether indoors or outdoors, but it is also an easy gardening experience. Lettuce is a very versatile plant that can quickly adapt to growing vertically.
Benefits Of Growing Lettuce Vertically
Here are some of the critical benefits of having a vertical garden for your lettuce:
Vertical Gardens Take Up Less Space
Conventional gardens require a lot of yard or floor space, depending on whether they’re outdoors or indoors. Not only can vertical gardens help you get that garden you want, even if space is limited, but you can grow more than with planters.
Make Use Of Non-Traditional Spaces
Growing your lettuce vertically allows you to take advantage of spaces like walls and fences or utilize places that provide enough sunlight.
Add Privacy
A green wall with a leafy plant like lettuce creates a visually exciting garden and can create privacy or cover unsightly areas.
Easier To Maintain
A vertical garden means you don’t have to do things like weeding, pests that live on the ground, or soilborne diseases.
More Sunshine
Since you can grow your lettuce in more areas, you can pick a spot that will get the right amount of sunlight without worrying about shade cast by fences or furnishings.
Preventing Disease
Vertical gardens keep plants away from soilborne diseases and prevent the plants from rotting while left sitting in the soil.
Airflow
Growing vertically allows for better air circulation, which keeps the leaves dry to prevent diseases, fungus, and rot.
Keeps Away Pests And Animals
Ground-dwelling pests won’t be able to get at your lettuce, so they can’t munch at your lettuce leaves. It also makes it harder for animals to reach your plants, and some chicken wire or garden fencing can further protect your plants.
Bigger And Easier Harvest
Growing a vertical lettuce garden will produce larger yields because it provides more growing space than traditional gardens. In addition, growing plants at eye level makes them easier to harvest as they won’t require bending down.
Better And Prettier Vegetables
Since your lettuce can grow out and hang down easily, you won’t have to worry about spotting from lying on the ground. Plus, the lettuce leaves can grow more naturally, allowing them to grow better.
Cleaner Plants
Lettuce grown in a vertical garden is cleaner than plants on the ground because the soil won’t splash up onto it.
How To Grow Lettuce In A Vertical Garden?
Here are some easy steps to follow so you can get the most out of your vertical lettuce garden:
Step 1 – Finding The Right Amount Of Sunlight
Lettuce thrives the most when it gets about six hours of sunlight daily. Of course, direct sunlight will help it grow faster, but lettuce is sturdy enough that a bit of shade won’t inhibit its growth ability. You can also use artificial light or grow lights if you keep your garden indoors.
Step 2 – Think About Air Circulation
Having your lettuce in a vertical garden means it will get more airflow than it would on the ground because there aren’t any other plants to get in the way. Lettuce tends to grow well in cooler temperatures, so the air circulation also helps cool the plants even in the hotter months. Pick a spot where your garden is likely to get some wind.
Step 3 – Find The Right Temperature
More than just air circulation, you must consider what temperatures you expose your lettuce to. You’ll want to aim for a temperature between 60 and 65 degrees. Anything higher will result in your lettuce plants growing flowers and producing seeds. Temperature is harder to control outdoors than indoors, but considering shade and wind will help.
Step 4 – Choose The Right Soil
Lettuce grows best in fluffy, well-aired soil. Lettuce requires no soil in a hydroponic garden, so you’ll want soil that allows the roots to grow while still carrying water and nutrients freely. Consider potting soil and avoid soils with clay in them.
Step 5 – Picking A Fertilizer
Adding some high-nitrogen fertilizer will help your lettuce grow faster. You’ll want something with fish, cottonseed, or a blood meal. The first number on the fertilizer will tell you how much nitrogen it has and look something like 10-5-5 mix.
Step 6 – Setting Up A Watering System
Your vertical lettuce garden will need a watering system, whether indoors or outdoors. A drip system is a fantastic way to control how much water your lettuce gets and how many times a day. You might need to play around with the amount to find the proper settings, but an automatic drip system makes keeping your garden healthy easier.
You can also manually water manually with a squeezable watering container with a tube that bends over the planter’s edges. This system will allow you to apply the right amount of water without making a mess.
Indoor Vertical Lettuce Garden
Indoor vertical lettuce gardens allow you to grow lettuce all year round, regardless of the weather where you live. In addition, since lettuce can tolerate some shade, it can still grow in a space without sunlight all day long.
Remember that lettuce grows fastest in full sunlight, so you might want to find a space that provides the most sunlight to get the most out of your garden. Or use artificial grow lights!
Outdoor Vertical Lettuce Garden
Outdoor vertical lettuce gardens need protection from cooler temperatures and other weather changes. However, outdoor gardens can more easily get the most sunlight to grow more lettuce faster.
An outdoor garden will also have better airflow thanks to the wind, which will help keep the leaves from rotting or getting fungus.
The Best Type Of Lettuce To Grow In A Vertical Garden
The best plants for vertical gardens are low-growing and compact, so you’ll be better off with something like arugula lettuce. Romaine lettuce is also a good option since it has compact heads and is better for salads.
More Information
For even more on the subject, I recommend the following video from “Daily Life And Nature”:
Final Words
A vertical lettuce garden is a great way to utilize limited space while giving your lettuce the best conditions to grow.
Growing vertically makes it easier for you to maintain your lettuce plants, makes the harvesting process smoother as it lowers the number of damaged leaves, doesn’t require you to bend down to get to the plants, and allows you to grow more lettuce all year round.