By ShowMeStepByStepPublished
Based on a video by MIgardener.
There's a smarter way to pick lettuce than yanking out the whole head. MIgardener calls it cut and come again, and it's the reason his raised bed stays full of green and red leaf lettuce all season.
The idea is simple. You harvest only the older outer leaves from each plant and leave the little crown in the middle alone. That center keeps pushing out new growth, so you can come back to the same plants again and again.
Follow along and you'll be able to pick a fresh salad tonight without losing a single plant. Your bed keeps feeding you for weeks.
Give the bed a good look before you cut anything. You want plants with leaves a few inches tall and a nice ring of outer growth you can spare. Loose-leaf types like these green and red varieties are perfect for this method because they never form a tight head. If the outer leaves look full and healthy, you're ready to pick.
Tip
Harvest in the morning when the leaves are crisp and full of water. They'll be crunchier and store longer.
Kneel down next to the bed and pick a plant. The leaves you want are the ones on the outside ring. They're the biggest and the oldest, which means they've done their job feeding the plant and it's time for them to go. Reach in low, close to the base, and get your fingers around a few of them.
Grab a small handful of those outer leaves and gently pull them away from the center. This lifts them up and separates them from the tender young growth in the middle. Keeping the leaves grouped makes the next cut clean and quick. Don't tug hard enough to rock the roots loose.
With the leaves held together, slice through them low near the base using a sharp knife or a pair of garden snips. One clean cut is better than sawing back and forth, which bruises the stems. Cut just the leaves you gathered and let them drop into your basket. Move to the next plant with the same grip-and-cut motion.
Tip
A clean cut heals fast and keeps the plant from stressing. Wipe your blade between plants if any show signs of disease.
Here's the part that makes it cut and come again. Never touch the small leaves in the very middle. That center crown is where all the new growth comes from. Take the outer leaves and the crown keeps pumping out fresh ones. Cut into the middle and you kill the plant, so stay on the outside.
Now just repeat plant by plant, taking a handful of outer leaves from each one as you move down the bed. Spreading your harvest across the whole row means no single plant gets stripped bare. You end up with a full basket and every plant still standing, ready to grow more.
Take your basket inside, rinse the leaves, and spin them dry for salad. Meanwhile the bed you just picked barely looks touched, and in a few days those crowns push out new outer leaves. Come back next week and do it all again. One planting, weeks of picking.
Tip
A salad spinner gets the water off fast so your greens don't go soggy. Store them loosely in the fridge with a paper towel.
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