A Lidl shopper has shared his simple gardening hack, which allows him to enjoy free salad for the entire summer thanks to a trick he uses with the bargain store’s lettuces
A savvy gardener has shared a clever trick for enjoying “free salad” for months, thanks to a little help from Lidl.
Posting his “confession” on Reddit, he revealed that he buys lettuces from the budget supermarket chain “once a year” then plants them in his garden. “Two months later, I enjoy free salad for the rest of the summer,” he boasted in the CasualUK subreddit.
“I don’t know why it feels wrong, but these do better than my seedlings ever do. I know they’re supposed to be eaten right away.” He detailed his method and showed off his bountiful harvest, saying: “Planted up two of those lettuces from Lidl with the roots intact back in May. Same for the parsley. Put in dirt and left alone for a couple of months and they just explode into salad.”
When a puzzled Redditor asked how to find a lettuce with its roots still on, he explained: “Lidl get small ones in earlier in the year. They’re about 1/2 the size of a cellophane wrapped one, but they have the roots attached. They tend to be packaged a bit like the herbs. They’re hydroponically grown so there’s no dirt or pot.”
In response to another question about keeping slugs at bay, he shared his secret: “Raised beds, and it’s mainly gravel around the immediate area. The lawn is an island surrounded by gravel too. I tried to make it hostile for them to get over to it.”
A third person asked: “How do you stop them bolting? I grew lettuce from seed a few years ago (super easy and probably even cheaper than buying from Lidl), and they were delicious until they bolted and grew about seven feet tall.”
To which the original poster helpfully replied again: “They like it wet. The raised bed keeps a lot of moisture in, as they’re set above quite clay-ish soil. I found last year it only took them wilting once to bolt. This year the weather has been cooperative.”
Another Reddit user shared a similar trick with ginger, meanwhile, detailing: “It works with ginger too,” they said. “You need to soak it overnight in a bowl of water as they spray it with a growth inhibitor. But if you soak and plant a couple of tubes in a window box or tub, in about six months you’ll have tons of roots to pick slice and add spice to your meals.”
“I do the same with basil plants,” another added. “They come stuffed into a tiny container but if you separate them out and take cuttings you end up with a crazy amount of basil.”
Others in the comments section praised the self-sufficient techniques. “I had no idea this was possible! ” one Redditor gushed. “Thanks for the tip!” A second admitted: “I work at a Lidl and see these crops of lettuce with roots all the time! I was wondering if people would be able to plant them so I guess this answers my question! ” And a third said: “This is kinda genius to be honest, well done.”
