Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Lardman on July 15, 2017, 12:12

Title: In praise of supermarket living salads.
Post by: Lardman on July 15, 2017, 12:12
I've had no luck at all with salad leaves germinating this year and I turned to supermarket living salads as a quick fix. Have to admit I was very surprised at how successful it has been, from last week I have 50 healthy oriental salad plants sitting in cells and I've just pricked out 100 loose leaf into 1" modules, other than the restricted choice of variety it's far less hassle than seeds - especially in the hot summer months.

Here's what I found at Aldi , anyone got any more ?

Aldi living salad : Oriental Mix
Green Mizuna
Red Mizuna
Green Tatsoi
Red Pak Choi
Greek Cress - ( this instantly ran to seed  :( )

Aldi living salad : Californian Mix
Green Oak
Red Oak
Green Batavia
Red Batavia
Title: Re: In praise of supermarket living salads.
Post by: snowdrops on July 15, 2017, 13:35
I  Often do the same with the Lidl ones if I've missed a successional sowing, they go on for ages, they had an oriental mix a couple of weeks ago, I've picked them all now but will wait for them to resprout then plant them out, they're usual ones are a green & red loose leafed pack that grow on & on
Title: Re: In praise of supermarket living salads.
Post by: sunshineband on July 15, 2017, 14:36
I've done this a few times and they represent excellent value. I put the small plants straight into the ground, keep them shaded until they are growing away strongly and off they go!

Waitrose had red frills and butterhead lettuce in their mix recently.. a friend passed on a part tray as there were so many plants 😉
Title: Re: In praise of supermarket living salads.
Post by: Mr Dog on July 15, 2017, 17:43
I  Often do the same with the Lidl ones if I've missed a successional sowing, they go on for ages, they had an oriental mix a couple of weeks ago, I've picked them all now but will wait for them to resprout then plant them out, they're usual ones are a green & red loose leafed pack that grow on & on

Still had plenty of Oriental mix in my local Lidl last Thursday. They also had some 3 in one (plug) of mixed lollo rossa and bionda
Title: Re: In praise of supermarket living salads.
Post by: Growster... on July 15, 2017, 17:48
Nice to do this with basil, parsley and chives too!

Straight into the pot or ground outside and saving a fortune!
Title: Re: In praise of supermarket living salads.
Post by: Elaine G on July 15, 2017, 18:15
Yes I spotted the ones in Waitrose too.
Have gone from a row of bolted lettuce to 50 small plants  :lol:
I am still surprised how many plants there were in the tray, and even more surprised that they are all growing.
We will never eat them all but I was expecting them to be eaten by slugs by now!


Elaine
Title: Re: In praise of supermarket living salads.
Post by: Hampshire Hog on July 15, 2017, 19:21
I am definitely a fan of this approach I often eat half the lettuce and plant the rest. Have used Lidl in past and have some from Waitrose waiting to be planted out. 😉

Cheers HH
Title: Re: In praise of supermarket living salads.
Post by: Etheldreda on July 15, 2017, 21:48
where were your seeds from? I'd write and complain!!
Title: Re: In praise of supermarket living salads.
Post by: ptarmigan on July 17, 2017, 10:13
just to say - slightly off topic - splitting a supermarket basil has kept me in basil all summer.  Worked really well.
Title: Re: In praise of supermarket living salads.
Post by: Elaine G on July 17, 2017, 21:59
Not far off topic ptarmigan, and a good idea. Might try it with a parsley plant as I only managed to germinate one seed  :lol:

Elaine
Title: Re: In praise of supermarket living salads.
Post by: ptarmigan on July 18, 2017, 10:39
I assumed some parsley I'd sown about 6 weeks ago was never going to happen, shoved the pot out of the way in the greenhouse, found it last week - just starting to sprout! Never give up.
Title: Re: In praise of supermarket living salads.
Post by: sunshineband on July 18, 2017, 11:41
Our flat leaf parsley was a supermarket rescue plant and it did well two years ago. I let it go to seeds as insects adore the flowers, and now seedlings pop up all over the place!! They are easy to move when small and with a little shelter even carry on growing during the Winter

Not bad for 10p!!
Title: Re: In praise of supermarket living salads.
Post by: Lardman on July 21, 2017, 10:39
Snasbods offerings.

Sainsburys Living Lettuce :
Red baby leaf lettuce
Green baby leaf lettuce

Sainsburys Living Japanese Greens :
Purple pak choi
Japanese spinach