For fresh mixed salad leaves all summer long, why not grow your own? Now's the time to get sowing, says Gardener's World's Adam Pasco

Reproduced from May 07 issue of Gardeners' World magazine. This month's issue on sale now. Subscribe now by direct debit and save 25 per cent.

Sowing outside
Salad leaves are quick and easy to grow, and if you haven't sown the free seeds we gave away last month, here's another way to grow them. Sowing salads directly outside is the best method if you don't have the facilities to sow and raise seedlings under cover. Salads can be sown from May onwards, and if you follow my step-by-step guide, I'm sure you'll get good germination and growth.

If the area has been used for growing crops before, hoeing and raking the soil is all that's needed to produce a fine tilth - the term we use to describe soil that has been prepared for sowing.

However, if this is your first year growing salads, I recommend forking compost into the surface before hoeing and raking. Let's face it, few of us have perfect soil, so why waste time and money sowing seeds when conditions are less than ideal? I overcome this by lining my seed trenches, or drills, with good-quality compost and covering the seeds with compost, too. Germination and growth will usually be far better than if your seeds are sown into lumpy soil.

I prefer to water after sowing, but make sure you don't disturb or wash away the seeds. You can water the drills before sowing as well, and I do advise this if your soil is very dry.

If you're growing cut-and-comeagain varieties to pick as small leaves, it's not necessary to thin out the seedlings. Just pick from congested areas first to leave the remaining plants more room to grow. If you're growing hearting varieties, thin out the seedlings to the spacing indicated on the seed packet to give them enough room to develop fully.

6 steps to... sowing lettuce directly

Hoe the bed to remove weeds and large stones and break up the top few inches of soil. Next, rake in several directions to level the area and create a fine surface tilth. Make drills about 5cm deep, either with a trowel or using a length of wood, then fill it generously with good-quality seed-sowing compost. Using a length of wood, even out the drill by shifting it from side to side while pushing it down to produce a channel. Sow your seeds thinly on to the compost, trying to space them evenly along the drill. Sow other veg or herb seeds, such as parsley, beetroot and spinach, in the same way. Cover the seeds to their required depth with more compost. Avoid covering too deeply. Firm down the compost so it's level with the soil. Water well, making sure you wet the soil on either side of the seed drills, as well as the compost covering the seeds.