The first outdoor salads can be sown now. Lettuce is the basic essential, available nowadays in apparently infinite variety. Short rows of several cultivars each should be sown at fortnightly intervals. A fine, level seedbed is required, so fork, rake and tread away. Mark the row ends with canes, set a line and press the rake handle into the soil for a shallow drill. Take the trouble to sow the seeds individually 1in apart, to save fiddly thinning later. Draw the soil carefully back overhead and lightly firm with the rake head. They'll be up in a fortnight.
* Follow Country Life on Twitter
-
'That’s the real recipe for creating emotion': Birley Bakery's Vincent Zanardi's consuming passionsVincent Zanardi reveals the present from his grandfather that he'd never sell and his most memorable meal.
-
The Business Class product that spawned a generation of knock-offs: What it’s like to fly in Qatar Airways’ Qsuite cabinQatar Airways’ Qsuite cabin has been setting the standard for Business Class travel since it was introduced in 2017.
