Yes, it’s possible you CAN get home grown fresh salad throughout the cold winter months and not just in a window box but in your garden too. Just think how rewarding it would be if you plan it so you can be serving your own home grown fresh leaf salad to garnish you Christmas Family Dinner!

How can I get this then? Here’s how:

• From the end of August through to the middle of November make sure you grow the seeds. With continuous and regular seed sowings you can increase your chances of getting a good continuous crop rotation throughout the year.

• The soil has to be good to achieve the best results and keep crops retaining as many nutrients as possible so a warm and sunny but sheltered place in your garden should be prepared by digging the soil over, mixing in an extremely well richly rotted manure or rich garden compost. Giving the soil these necessary added nutrients helps it to retain moisture. Always rake over the spot for a fine finish.

• If you are wanting to use a container mix using potting compost using a pot or window box firstly, you need to prepare your mix container of the potting compost and leave flat, carefully place the seeds in shallow and short rows to each other, gently cover the soil, label and gently water to enable the seeds to take root.

• If you experience a sudden and sharp dip to the temperature which normally happens overnight, you should cover your seeds with a cloth to protect them from frost.

• Let the plant grow to about 15 centre meters and then slice off the whole head down to a stump of 3cm and wait for the new stronger, even more deliciously edible plant to re-sprout quickly.