TIME: About 30 minutes
COST: About $45
MATERIALS
- Large terra-cotta bowl, at least 16 inches in diameter, with drain holes
- Small bag of potting soil
- Lettuces (about five sixpacks)--choose several varieties, such as butter lettuce, romaine, 'Red Oak Leaf', and Swiss chard
- Trowel
PLANTING AND CARE
- Fill the container halfway with potting soil.
- Push plants from their sixpacks, then plant them about 2 inches apart. For best effects, group them by kind, with the tallest plants (such as romaine) in the back. Fill in around them with more potting soil.
- Set the lettuce centerpiece in filtered shade and water it well.
- Continue to water regularly; fertilize once a week with dilute fish emulsion.
The day of the barbecue, thoroughly mist the leaves with water to clean them before placing the container on the patio table.
