GrowCamp - fresh salad in the earliest spring!

Grow your own salad in early spring in a covered raised bed from GrowCamp!

A GrowCamp is the perfect opportunity for you who want to grow a lot of edible delicacies all year round despite the wind and weather, which otherwise makes it necessary to pack the garden equipment together in the autumn and wait until the spring to use the green fingers again.

The GrowCamp makes it possible to extend the growing season, as it keeps the heat and protects the crops from rain, wind and snow, as well as birds, snails and larvae. Thus, it suddenly becomes a reality to have fresh lettuce and other vegetables until well into the late autumn and early winter, and in addition to be able to pick up crispy lettuce already in early spring.

Germination and GrowCamp provide success with lettuce, even in the very early spring

Germination is the early start that is needed to be able to enjoy fresh lettuce leaves already in the early spring, when otherwise it is usually only time to start sowing.

Germination takes place by sowing your lettuce seeds in e.g. small pots or trays. They can be purchased HERE if you do not have any lying around for the purpose. In this, the seeds can be allowed to germinate and grow indoors, for example in a basement or garden room, where it is frost-free and at the same time can not get too hot.

You can choose which lettuce varieties you want to grow, but some varieties can better withstand the low temperatures of winter. Thus, there is a greater chance of success with the cultivation.

Good salad varieties that you can start sowing at the end and first of the year:
- Rucola: Can withstand the winter and have shoots for the spring if it is a mild winter.
Spinach: Tolerates low temperatures better and is more hardy than other lettuce varieties.
- Field lettuce: Can overwinter and germinate very early in the spring.

Once the sprouts have grown to a suitable size, it's time to plant them in the GrowCamp. You can already do that when the worst night frost is over and the milder nights set in. Being able to put the lettuce sprouts out as early as possible in a GrowCamp, because the plastic foil keeps the heat and screens from the wind. The soil is easy to replace and / or add fertilizer, so it is always suitable for cultivation.

If night frosts are still experienced in the beginning, it may be a good idea to help the plants a little by increasing the temperature inside the covered bed. Put a candle in the bed (which is secured against being able to ignite other elements) overnight or put some large dark stones in the GrowCamp, which can absorb the sun's rays during the day and give off the heat at night. That way, the frost can be kept at a distance.

In the GrowCamp, the small plants can be allowed to grow until they are ready to be harvested as a fine crisp lettuce already in the early spring months.

Picture from a GrowCamp in early April: Lettuce, feldspar and peas - all sprouted indoors.