Grow Your Own Salad Tree

Eating plenty of salad and vegetables is a great way to add valuable vitamins and minerals to your diet, increase your intake of fiber, and lose a few pounds at the same time. The freshest lettuce and vegetables make the tastiest salad. You can easily grow your own salad and vegetables at home, and save money too! Even if you live in an apartment and have no space for a garden, you can grow a salad tree if you have the know-how!

Okay, a “Salad Tree” really isn’t a tree at all. What it is, is a condensed combination of most any type of lettuce and vegetables you could want to eat. Here are the instructions on how to grow your own salad tree:

1. For a nice-size Salad Tree that will provide you with a variety of delicious lettuce and vegetables, use a large terra-cotta planting pot. The pot should measure approximately twenty-four inches in diameter. A terra-cotta pot is recommended to grow your Salad Tree in because it “breathes.” It will allow the roots of your plants to get air.

Before you grow your own Salad Tree, you’ll need to prepare the terra-cotta pot. Completely immerse the large pot in a sink or a container filled with tap water. You’ll see small air bubbles rising to the top of the water. Once the bubbles stop coming, your terra-cotta pot is ready to use; remove it from the sink water and set it on an old newspaper or a brown paper bag.

You’ll also need plenty of potting soil to grow your own Salad Tree in. You can buy potting soil at your local garden supply store. And, you’ll need some rocks
from a driveway or other rocky area.

2. Fill the terra-cotta pot up with the potting soil, but don’t pack the dirt down. Leave about two inches of room in the top of the container.

3. Now, to grow your own Salad Tree, you’ll need to decide what types of lettuce and vegetables you want to plant. You can plant Head Lettuce, Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Squash, Red and Green Peppers, Onions, Radish, Spinach, and Herbs.

You can start your tree from seeds, or, you can buy healthy plants from a nursery instead. Plants are certainly more expensive than seeds. But, plants will produce lettuce and vegetables faster, so it’s your choice.

4. Before you actually plant your own Salad Tree, you’ll need to decide a layout for the terra-cotta pot. A piece of paper and a paper can help you determine where to plant the vegetable seeds or plants. Don’t try to crowd the vegetables. They’ll all need plenty of room to grow into healthy plants.

5. If you use nursery plants, plant them down a little deeper than they are tall. Follow the instructions on the seed packets/plant containers in order to achieve the best results.

6. Once you have planted your Salad Tree, move the pot to where its final location will be. Your seeds/plants will need to receive plenty of sunshine.

Of course, you can move the terra-cotta pot anytime you need to. That’s part of the beauty of a Salad Tree. Later on in the growing season, as it gets towards fall, anytime there’s a frost warning in effect, you can easily move your Salad Tree inside out of danger.

Then, water the potting soil well. As your vegetable plants/seeds grow, you’ll need to periodically add fertilizer to your Salad Tree. Keep it watered in the meantime too.

Once your little garden starts growing and producing vegetables, you can then pick them anytime you want to eat a fresh, delicious salad!

And, the bonus is, that once you grow your own Salad Tree, it will give you a colorful “tree” to decorate your patio, deck, or porch with.