I’m not much of a gardener (I’ve been accused of having a black thumb) but I’ve been tempted lately to get the family involved as the price of my favorite organic lettuces gets higher and higher. It’s clear that growing your own vegetables is one of the best ways to save money on your grocery bill but what about the opportunity cost of spending time in the garden? There are two answers to this question. The first is that there are reasons to garden other than saving money. The feeling of fulfillment that you and your children can get by growing your own food is wonderful. The answer to the time issue is that I’ve searched the internet for small gardening projects that are very low maintenance and take a small amount of effort to get them going. This “lettuce in a planter box” is the perfect project to help you find out if you have a green or a black thumb.

To start, you’ll need a planter box. Self-Watering Trough Planters from Gardener’s Supply are the perfect vessel for your lettuce garden and will keep your plants moist even if you forget them for a week. For a super low-cost vessel, get over to Walmart and you can find a plastic box that will work fine but will just have to be watered more diligently.

Next, you’ll need seeds. I love the Seed Savers Exchange online. Seed Savers Exchange is a “non-profit, member supported organization that saves and shares the heirloom seeds of our garden heritage, forming a living legacy that can be passed down through generations”. Their members have “distributed an estimated 1 million samples of rare garden seeds since (their) founding nearly 35 years ago”. Those seeds are now used in gardens throughout the country. If I were making a box, I’d choose the Gold Rush Organic Lettuce Seeds from the lettuce section of their website. They seeds cost a mere $2.75 for 250 seeds so you can share your seeds with friends if you like.

Once you have your seeds and your planter, the Central Florida Green Guide has a wonderful, step-by-step guide with lots of pictures to help you plant, grow and harvest your lettuces.

Let us know what you’re growing!!!

Darcy Ratner
Rubbingnickels.com

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