Lettuce is one of those gifts that keeps on giving if you know how to harvest it correctly. Different varieties have different tolerances for how they are harvested {meaning, some will go to seed faster than others if you pick it as you need it}.
Head lettuce is really best harvested as a whole head when it has matured. Just grab a sharp knife and holding the base firmly, cut off the head. Make sure to leave the base and roots IN THE GROUND, because you will get one more {maybe two} smaller harvest off of them that way. If you pick the outer leaves of head lettuce, instead of harvesting the whole head, it will go to seed faster.
Leaf lettuce is the best choice if you want a continual salad all season long. For leaf lettuce {and lettuce like Romaine}, you can just pick the outer leaves as they are needed. Don’t let the leaves get too big, or they will start to get tough and bitter tasting. To harvest them, just snap each leaf off at the base of the plant, being careful not to uproot the whole plant {it’s best to snap off the leave about a 1″ above the base of the plant}. As long as you keep up with snapping off the outer leaves, the lettuce won’t go to seed until it gets too hot {which in a nice shady area, might mean you can have fresh salad spring, summer, and fall}. Even if your leaf lettuce threatens to bolt, you can snap out the center of the plant and buy yourself a little more time…and a little more lettuce.
Homegrown lettuce makes store bought seem like punishment, so might as well make the most of your harvest.
~Mavis
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Chip says
Have you tried a variety of leaf lettuce from Territorial called New Red Fire? It is absolutely exquisite. I am not a huge leaf lettuce lover. I usually opt for a romaine type as I like the crunch. Last year my wife pleaded for me to plant some of the beautiful green with red tipped New Red Fire when she was reviewing the seed catalog. So, for the sake of marital harmony, I decided to give it a try. I planted a 4′ row and never looked back. It grows fast (they say 29 days), is tender AND best of all, it does not get bitter. I did two plantings. The first was in late May which we cut for a good 8 weeks. The second was in mid-July which we ate until the end of September. The Wife take a pair of scissors and starts at one end. By the time we eat thru the row, it is ready to cut again where we started. Definitely a keeper!
Mavis says
I’ve never tried new red fire but I’ll keep an eye out for it. Sounds delicious!
Emily says
When I’ve harvested my head lettuce and let it grow a second head the new lettuce always seems to come in bitter. Have others had this problem? Any tips to avoid it?
Linda says
I grew red lettuce last year. Always left the base and roots in. This year I found new lettuce that came up, but froze. So I removed the black frozen lettuce and still had beautiful red lettuce coming up again when it started getting warmer. And what is nice is the base is wider than last year. I am looking forward to real spring and early summer. This back and forth weather is nonsense. LOL!