GARDENING ICEBERG AHOY!

Around two decades ago, when a newly launched burger joint opened in Karachi, I remember it took a lot of convincing to persuade my mother to buy a dozen burgers from that fast food chain.

Her argument was that she could easily prepare the exact same burger at home for one fourth of the expenditure. 'But the greens you use are plain, soft lettuce, and the ones in their massive burgers is of different, crispier variety,' was, to her dismay, my customary retort.

Incidentally, those greens were historically known as crisphead lettuce and are now more commonly called iceberg lettuce. Iceberg lettuce, back then, was scarcely available here in Karachi. It was only available, that too at highly inflated prices, at the iconic Empress Market and a few local marts. With increased demand and availability, you are now highly likely to procure iceberg lettuce easily from any regular street vegetable seller in the city.

Since this lettuce was shaped like a head and was crispier than the other lettuce varieties, it was traditionally known as crisphead lettuce. However, back in the early 20th century, when this lettuce variety was being transported across America, it needed to be covered with lots of crushed ice in order to ensure its freshness and crispness for a longer period of time. Hence it was given the name iceberg lettuce.

If you wish to add some much-needed crunch and texture to your everyday meals, iceberg lettuce is the green for you

You can also easily grow iceberg lettuce at your home. Iceberg lettuce is a winter crop which ideally requires temperatures to be as low as 10 to 20 degrees Celsius for optimal growth. To sow the seeds, a well-drained potting mix and moist soil is needed. It should be devoid of any stones, since that may inhibit the comparatively weaker seedling to germinate easily.

Simply sprinkle the seeds on the soil surface of a seedling pot or tray and cover it with a fine layer of compost. To avoid seeds from getting dispersed due to watering, there are two ways to provide water to the seeds. The more practised one is to put the seed pot in a tray filled with water. The soil will imbibe water from the drainage hole at the bottom of the pot. This process is known as the bottom-up watering technique. Another technique is to simply water the pot before sowing the seeds. Depending upon the seed...