[Bluedave]

When people sow these in trays at this time of the year do you then move them out onto the plot in a few weeks or do you leave them in the trays - i'm assuming they are fairly big and deep trays if thats what you do?

[gazza975526570]

i grow most lettuce in modules and move maybe 2 weeks after germinating - i find it makes them less prone to being eaten!

Raddishes i always just sow directly onto the plant - seem to be one of the easiest and quickest veg to grow and not sure what benefit from the extra hasstle of transplanting

[lucywil]

I have sown some radish direct at the plot, never done it and transplanted, to be honest I didn't realise people did! Have some lettuce just germinated in a tray which will be transplanted to the plot but have some mixed leaves that we will eat straight from the tray, it's just a normal size seed tray and it just fills the salad gap while the lettuces are growing. They will grow in pretty much any type of container and aren't very deep rooted.

[Nige2Plots]

I sow about six seeds at a time in a tray in the Greenhouse and then transplant them into the greenhouse borders.
At home I sow in containers and leave them there until harvesting, these are Little Gems.

[Lottie Mary]

Last year I grew everything in pots because I didn't yet have my allotment.  For my radishes, I used a large window box and just sowed them directly.  They grow so fast there's no need to both with transplanting.

I did the same with the lettuce - either in a large window box or other large pot.  I kept the lettuce in my conservatory and just picked when required 

[Jonajo]

for me:

Radish
I sow directly into the ground, a small row every few weeks.

Lettuce
I sow a few in modules in greenhouse, then transplant to one of the beds later to become full lettuces (I do this sowing/transplanting about 3 weeks apart and get a reasonably continuous crop of whole lettuces)

Salad leaves
I never find the "mixed salad" seeds you can buy that satisfactory so I do my own: I use litter trays for these (unsoiled by the cat!), fill with compost and scatter a selection of seeds of my choice over half of it first of the tray and cover; then a month or so later I do the other half of the tray, and then a month or so later repeat in the second tray etc....and get a crop throughout the year. Typically I will use wild rocket, leeks (for the seedlings - adds a wonderfully onion flavour to a salad), beetroot (lovely leaves), peas (pea shoots in a salad are stunning!) and whatever takes my fancy at the time of sowing, including other lettuce seeds that I simply want to have as leaves rather than the whole heads. The point is, I get an instant, personally-tailored mixed salad - and each time I sow it takes mere moments. The challenge is, for me at any rate, is moderation: sowing not too much in a go but doing a little often....

[VeggieVirgin]

I have a load of those blue plastic trays that you see in fruit shops, which I've lined with some leftover roofing membrane stuff. I use them to grow all sorts of salady stuff, to take the pressure off the space in my raised beds. They're a bit bigger and deeper than seed trays. At the moment, I've got spring onions, Little Gem and Tom Thumb lettuces, spinach, rocket, pea shoots, and three different mixed leaves in them.

I second what Jonajo said about pea shoots: they're excellent. I just use the kind of dried peas that you can buy to put in soup etc. I got a big bag from the health shop for about £1.70 last year, and it's kept us well supplied with salad.

I was inspired by Charles Dowding's book Salad Leaves for All Seasons. He says you can grow salady stuff in practically anything, so whenever I see a container of any sort, I eye it up for its veggie growing potential.