How to harvest lettuce so it keeps coming back

Lettuce is the workhorse of the late winter/early spring garden. It takes a little under a month to grow from seed to harvest. It flourishes in the garden at the times of the year when almost nothing else does. Here are some tips for planting and harvesting lettuce in a way that keeps your plants working until the rest of your garden is ready.

There are two types of lettuce:

1. The kind that grows in a single head for a one-time harvest
2. The kind that refreshes its leaves after every harvest so you can reap multiple harvests after every planting.

Here’s a short primer on how to grow cut-and-come-again lettuce and keep it coming back for multiple harvests.

When to Plant Lettuce

Lettuce can be sown by seed or transplanted out about a month before your last frost and actually does best in cooler temperatures. Most varieties can even withstand a frost. In our warm southern summer, I have to plant bolt-resistant lettuce in the shadow of my tomato plants to keep them growing in the heat of the summer. I can usually keep them alive over the winter if they are already mature under a cover. I cover them with a blanket when it’s cold and prepare to lose them completely if temperatures drop really low. Since it takes about a month until it’s ready to harvest, they are a wonderful-quickly rewarding plant to start in your spring space.

How to Harvest for Repeated Harvest

I love to plant a block in my spring garden with different varieties of lettuce, kale, and spinach. Once they get large enough to harvest, I cut from the outside in. I always leave the 3-5 leaves on the inside so it can continue to grow. I usually have more lettuce to harvest by the following week.

Check out this video to get a sense of what it looks like. Check out this article on the easiest way to prep a simple salad.