Why pay nearly $10 per pound for fresh gourmet lettuce (that might not be all that fresh) when you can grow your own custom lettuce blends right at home, ready to be picked and eaten whenever you're in the mood for a truly fresh salad?

Lettuce is an easy to grow crop that's ready to eat quickly, often in less than a month. You can even harvest it after a couple weeks for micro greens. It prefers cool weather, such as in the spring and fall, and lots of light. During the summer it can be difficult to keep the plants cool enough, resulting in bitter leaves or the plants bolting to seed.

There are many different lettuces and other salad greens (like chervil, purslane) available. I recommend growing leaf lettuces, rather than head lettuces (like iceberg). This makes it easy to snip of a few leaves whenever you want. The lettuce plant will keep making new leaves for you to eat!

If you're new to growing your own lettuce and don't know which ones you'll like or which will grow best for you, try a prepackaged mix of seeds. These can usually be found where you buy seeds locally, or can be purchased online, such as the Master Chef Blend, Organic Salad Bowl Mix and the Summer Glory Blend with heat resistant varieties.

You can start your lettuce seeds wither in the container they're going to live in or in smaller starter containers and transplant them later. I like to start mine separately so I can arrange the plants in a larger container to give an attractive design. Cover the seeds with a very thin layer of soil and keep them moist. Indoors they should sprout in two days to a week.

If you started the plants separately you can transplant them when they're two to three weeks old. Once they've recovered from transplanting, harden them off for a few days before keeping them outside.

Lettuce has a shallow root system and needs to be watered very regularly, especially as the weather warms up. When the weather gets hot you can move your lettuce to the shade of taller plants, or move the container to a cooler location, perhaps one that doesn't get direct sunlight all day. You can also build a small shade over to partially block the sun.

If your plants look like they're getting ready to bolt (you'll learn to recognize this), you can try digging them up and replanting them. This shock can cause the plant to focus on its roots and getting growing again, rather than making seeds.

To harvest your lettuce you can either carefully break off the leaf, being careful not to disturb the roots or pull the plant right out of the ground, or use a set of clean scissors or shears to cut the leaf close to the ground. A quick rinse and a spin in the salad spinner (or gently pat dry with some paper towels) and you're ready to go!

Lettuce alone can make a decent salad, but you can take it to the next level by adding some non-lettuce plants. Perhaps a little mint to give a cool, refreshing character? How about some salad burnet, which tastes like cucumber? Arugula gives a spicy, peppery flavor.

Once you start eating your own home-grow lettuce you'll wonder why you didn't start years ago. Enjoy your fresher, healthier and tastier salads!

However, most of the people can only get things snipped as they wait for the next growth. People who are staying in warmer climates should take advantage of the cool and wet months of the January winter to plant some salad greens and sweet peas.

Nevertheless, gardening in January can be fun just like the other favorable months for gardening but it is critical to make some good gardening decisions or the month will be wasted. No matter which climate you are in, there are some basic things that should be incorporated in plans to do gardening in January. Most of the people should be involved in the activities of ordering from the available catalogs.

Some climates may require that the garden design be reworked. It is imperative for one to review the previous years garden journal and to design a new one for the New Year. This should be done by recording the plant and seed orders for the New Year. It is also important to check the vegetables and bulbs that have been stored so that a good decision can be made.

Another paramount activity should be checking the plants that are to be used for heaving. Other beneficial activities should include recycling the Christmas Tree to a bird feeder of garden mulch. After these activities, there is little to be done other than going for a gardening class and sharpening your gardening tools.

In cold climates, Gardening in January should involve winter sowing so that flowers and vegetables that need stratification should get a head start. In zones 7+ areas, people can start planting seeds of vegetables that do well in cool seasons in doors. These vegetables include leeks and cauliflower.

There are also a number of flowers that do well in cool seasons like which should be treated the same as the vegetables. They include verbena, snapdragons, portulaca, petunias, nicotiana, geranium and ageratum. It is also important to check outdoor plants against being damaged by outdoor pests and animals.

The indoor plants should also be checked against being damaged by indoor pests and pets. Hence, just like other months, Gardening in January can be fun. Although there is little activity that can be done in the garden during the month, planning for the next year is also a good way of ensuring that the month has not been wasted.

A gardener should also ensure that all the plants that need a head start gets that head start and this will ensure that the rest of the year gardening will be successful.