How to build a lettuce table...the easy way.

A vintage desk...upcycled.

A Lettuce Table (or a “salad table”) is fairly easy to construct.  There are plenty of DIY sites and pages online where you can find instructions on how to build your own table out of lumber.

But an easy way to do it is to find an old table at a thrift store or a yard sale, or even one that is being thrown out at the side of the road, and then use that as your base.  If you find a desk with a large central drawer, you can remove the top from the desk and use the drawer as your planting area, placing soil directly in the drawer and sowing your seeds.  Or, you can flip the desk or table over and nail or screw a board to the bottom to hold your soil.

If you find a table without a drawer you can construct a simple box to fit on the top of the table.  Simply measure and cut the boards to fit the top of your table.  Then screw the boards together at the ends and fix it to the table top (I stapled landscaping plastic to the tabletop first).  You can paint the boards with blackboard paint for easy labeling purposes. 

This table has a simple box built and fixed to the top surface. 

Then fill the box with quality potting soil and decide what you would like to plant in your lettuce table.  It is very early now, so if you do not have UV lights and a greenhouse, or a nice warm place to put your lettuce table, it is best to wait until closer to spring to get started.  Your plants will need plenty of water!  They can benefit from a good organic fertilizer as well, and you can expect a nice harvest!

This is the start of one of our direct sow lettuce patches at Jones' Acre Homestead.

We are offering a CSA this Spring ad Summer! 

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