Young sugarloaf seedlings are available in garden centers at planting time. Sowing your own seeds is of course cheaper. However, one thing must be avoided at all costs: well-intentioned haste. If you want to harvest too early, you can quickly come away empty-handed. So start at the right time!
When and how should you sow sugarloaf?
Sugarloaf is best sown directly outdoors between mid-June and the end of July. The bed should be sunny to partially shaded and have fresh, moist, well-drained soil. The optimal sowing depth is 1 to 1.5 cm. Plants should be spaced 30 to 45 cm apart and the soil should always be kept slightly moist.
Sowing only takes place in summer
Early in the year we like to enrich our dishes with fresh lettuce leaves. But the Sugarloaf Mountain can't do anything about it. If sown early in this country, it will receive cold stimuli that will encourage it to shoot up and bloom. You can only sow it from March if you can offer it consistently warm temperatures, for example in a greenhouse. Otherwise, wait until at least mid-June. You can still sow the seeds until the end of July.
Preparing the bed for sowing
Choose a sunny to partially shaded bed with fresh, moist and well-drained soil. It can be used beforehand for early crops such as spinach or peas. Before sowing, the bed must be prepared:
- remove all remains of the previous culture
- also pull any weeds and roots out of the soil
- Loose up the bed with a cultivator
- Remove stones, break up large clods of earth
- Smooth the sowing area with a rake
Tip
When growing legumes, fertilization is not necessary as they enrich the soil with nitrogen. Otherwise, you can mix in some compost before sowing.
How to sow outdoors
Because the sugar loaf has a long taproot, it is difficult to prick out. So sow it straight away, maintaining optimal distances. There should be at least 30 cm between two plants and two rows. If there is enough space available, the rows can be 45 cm apart. Also note the following points:
- sow staggered in the rows
- For safe germination, sow 2-3 seeds per spot
- ideal sowing depth is 1 to 1.5 cm
- the soil must always be slightly moist
After the seeds have sprouted, only leave the strongest sugar loaf plant per sowing site.
Bring Sugarloaf forward for an earlier harvest
You can grow sugarloaf in small cultivation pots at the beginning of June and plant it out at the end of June. Here too, the bed must be prepared as described above. The distances are the same as for direct sowing.
You can harvest this early sugar loaf as early as August. Simply cut the head you need above the ground. Heads of lettuce that have not yet been used up can easily overwinter in the bed at temperatures down to -4°C and serve as winter lettuce.
