How to Grow Salad Greens
Salad Greens At a Glance
Difficulty
Easy
Category
Vegetable
Sun Exposure
Partial Sun, Partial Shade
Frost Tolerance
Frost Hardy
Cold Hardiness
Survives to -9°C
Plant Family
Asteraceae
Growing Season
Cool Season
Plant Lifecycle
Annual
How to Start It
★ Recommended for beginners
Salad greens handle frost, so start sowing about 2 weeks before your last spring frost, and keep going until about 4 weeks before your first fall frost. Scatter the mixed seeds thinly over a band of soil or a pot, about 1 seed every 1 to 2 cm, and cover them with 0.5 cm of fine soil. Keep the surface damp: they sprout in 3 to 7 days. Sow a new patch every 2 to 3 weeks for salad all season.
A salad mix is a blend of quick baby leaves, like lettuce, mustard, arugula and chard, grown close together and cut young. Cut it about 3 cm above the soil and it grows back for 2 or 3 more cuts. It is one of the best crops for a pot or a balcony box, ready in as little as 20 days.
When To Start
First chance to plant
30 Days Before Last Frost
Last chance to plant
30 Days Before First Frost
When should you plant Salad Greens?
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Your Salad Greens Planting Window
Start planting
May 15, 2026
Last chance
Sep 10, 2026
Your Salad Greens Calendar
Set your location to turn these into exact dates and reminders.
Sow a patch of salad greens, then again in 2 to 3 weeks
2 weeks before your last frost· every year
Snip salad greens young and leave the base to regrow
3 weeks after your last frost· every year· optional
Did you water your salad greens seedlings today? Keep the top of the soil damp until they are up and growing.
About 1 days after you plant it
Time to thin the salad greens seedlings: snip the extras at soil level so each one has room to grow.
About 17 days after you plant it
Your salad greens are up and growing! Keep the soil evenly moist so the leaves stay tender.
About 14 days after you plant it
Salad time is close! Cut leaves about 3 cm above the soil and they will grow back.
About 20 days after you plant it
Picking time may be here: check your salad greens.
About 20 days after you plant it
The Journey Ahead
Salad Greens's Lifecycle
Seedling
Mature Plant
Seed Production
Step 2
Planting & Sprouting
Expect sprouts in 3–7 days
Growing Tips
- 1Give salad greens at least 4 to 6 hours of sun, with some afternoon shade in summer to keep them from bolting (rushing to flower and turning bitter).
- 2Fill the bed or pot with loose soil and plenty of compost.
- 3Keep the soil evenly damp with a light watering every day or two in warm weather, since the shallow roots dry out fast.
- 4Water with compost tea after each cut to help the patch grow back.
- 5Sow your summer patches in a cooler, shadier spot, since heat makes the leaves bitter.
- 6Pick off slugs by hand in the evening, and cover the patch with row cover to keep flea beetles (tiny black jumping beetles that chew small holes) off the mustard and arugula.
Seedling Phase
Step 3
Growth & Maturity
~20
Days to Maturity
30 cm
Mature Height
30 cm
Mature Width
Pests to Watch For
Diseases to Watch For
Mature Plant
Step 4
Harvesting
Harvest Window
30 days
When to Pick
Cut mixed leaves regularly when young
How to Harvest
- 1Start cutting when the leaves are 8 to 10 cm tall, about 3 to 4 weeks after sowing.
- 2Cut in the cool of the morning, when the leaves are crisp.
- 3Grab a handful of leaves and snip across with scissors about 3 cm above the soil, leaving the base to grow back.
- 4The patch regrows for 2 or 3 more cuts before the leaves get tough, and then it is time to sow a new one.
- 5Rinse the leaves in cold water, spin them dry and keep them in a bag in the fridge for up to a week.
Step 5
Saving Seeds
How to Save Seeds
A salad mix is many different plants, so save seed from each kind on its own. Lettuce is the easiest, since its flowers pollinate themselves and rarely cross, so seed from a variety that is not a hybrid grows true. Mustard and arugula cross with their relatives, so their seed from a mixed patch can give surprising plants. Let a few plants bolt and flower, and once the seed heads turn fluffy or the pods dry to tan, cut them into a paper bag and shake out the seeds. Store each kind in its own labelled envelope somewhere cool, dark and dry, where most keep about 3 years.
Seed Production
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