EDIBLEharvest

Cut-and-Come-Again Lettuce

By Kathy Jentz

Cutting Lettuce (Lactuca sativa), also known as cut-and-come-again lettuce, are salad greens grown for their leaves, rather than to develop a head. Cutting lettuces come in red and green varieties, as well as several combinations of the two colors. The leaves can be flat, ruffled, or curly. Lettuce greens are a cool-season crop and do best in the spring and fall here in the Mid-Atlantic United States. When the summer heat moves in, the plants bolt and send up a flower shoot that produces seeds. You can collect these seeds to plant the next season. Note that lettuce seed must by fresh for it to have good germination. The seeds are tiny and can be planted directly into the garden soil or in a shallow container. Cover them with a fine layer of soil and water in well. Lettuce prefers rich garden soil and does not need fertilizers. For continual harvests, you can sow additional rows of lettuce seeds every week or two. When the plants are several inches high, use a clean pair of kitchen shears to cut off the largest leaves down to an inch or so above the root crown. Harvest only as much as you will consume right away. In a few weeks, these lettuces will grow back up again and you will be able to have another round of cutting. Depending on the length of your growing season, you can usually get at least three or four rounds of cut greens from the plants. Slugs and rabbits love tender lettuce leaves as do many other garden pests. You can protect your lettuce seedlings with a wire cage or cover cloth. The cloth can also act to shade the tender leaves as the weather heats up in late spring and insulates the plants when the autumn frosts move in. o

Kathy Jentz is the editor and founder of Washington Gardener.