Will Container Gardening Grow Better Lettuce So It Won't Get Diseases?

Sterile Potting Mix

• One of the biggest advantages of container gardening is the ability to have full control over the potting mix you use. Garden soil can be contaminated throughout the year by fungi and other disease organisms that attack your lettuce. Filling your containers with a sterile potting mix means you're starting out with a fresh, disease-free base to help your lettuce grow healthier.

Controlling Drainage

• You're not always in control of the density of the soil in your garden. Some loamy soils don't hold enough moisture to support lettuce growth, while clay soils can keep too much water around the roots and drown them. Using a container gives you better control of the drainage. Lettuce likes damp but well-draining soil, so choose a potting mix that contains bark, vermiculite or perlite. The drainage holes in the bottom of the container ensure no water stands around the lettuce roots, which can promote the root or foliage rot fungi. Growing vegetables in containers typically means you must water them more often than you would in a garden, so check the soil daily to make sure it's damp about 1 inch below the surface. If the top of the potting mix is wet, there's no need to water that day.

Location

• In addition to letting you place the lettuce in partial shade where it grows best, containers allow you to move the lettuce away from potential disease. If you have an area of your yard that has suffered with disease, the remnants might still remain and can be carried on the wind to other areas. Using containers, you can move your lettuce to a protected area, such as on the other side of the house. This reduces the chances your lettuce can contract a disease from infected plants in your yard. It also keeps away many insect pests -- if some are drawn to other areas of your yard, they might not find your lettuce if the containers are placed away from other plants. Common lettuce pests include aphids, caterpillars and slugs.

Clean Tools

• A container can't help you if you don't clean your tools properly. After you use garden tools in one area of your yard, disinfect them with isopropyl alcohol or a solution of 9 parts water and 1 part bleach. This includes gloves, if you wear them when you garden. If you're using old containers, such as ones used to grow lettuce last year, disinfect them with the bleach solution, inside and out. Rinse them with water and let them dry before adding sterile potting mix.