Lettuce Time! Harvesting Loose Leaf Lettuce

Lettuce ready to harvest (notice most of the radishes to the left are already eaten)

The general cry these days is "Buy Local".  I'm all for supporting the local farmer.  And this year my town started its very own Farmer's Market.  Yay!  It was a packed day at the opening of the Downingtown Farmer's Market.  Many farmers sold out within the first two hours (the market was from 3-7pm).  However, as I was ready to make my way back to the market this week, I realized that my own garden is brimming over and I better start eating!  The loose-leaf type lettuce is ready, the radishes we started eating last week, and the romaine is charging right along too!  So "buy local" has become "eat local", as in my own backyard.

Cut near the base and it will regrow!

I fell in love with romaine lettuce many years ago.  However, I fell in love with growing the loose-leaf varieties because you can harvest up to 3 times from the same seed.  That's right!  When it comes to harvesting the lettuce, you simply snip it about 3/4" from the base.  I use regular scissors to cut the lettuce.  Then simply wait and it will grow right back!  If you planned ahead and staggered your seed planting, then you could end up eating one row at a time and end up back at the first row already regrown.  I did stagger this year, however the cold spring we had stunted the growth.  When they finally really took off growing, they were all the same height.  Oops.  So that means there's lots of sharing going on in our house with neighbors and friends.  So keep an eye on your lettuce and whenever possible, support the local farmer too!

 

If you're near Downingtown, PA, check out our new farmer's market on Thursdays, 3-7pm. Click here for more information.

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