Lettuce is a bouncy plant that wo n’t quit . As long as it has moist soil and cool weather , it ’s going to throw out some leaves . you could cut it over and over again throughout the season and it will regrow . you could even regrow lettuce from kitchen food waste . Never again see a lolly staunch the same way , It is a potential salad .
In the Garden
The most common lettuces develop in the garden are looseleaf miscellanea . These are popular because they do n’t require thinning and can be packed together . They are also called ‘ cut off - and - come - again ’ greens because , as it sounds , they will regrow after being cut .
Loseleaf Lettuce
When looseleaf sugar hit 4 - 5 inch tall , turn off the leave with some scissors . go away about an inch above the soil surface to avoid damaging the roots of the plant life . That ’s all there is to regrow leaf lettuce , just reduce and come again in a couple of weeks .
Butter Lettuce
Butter sugar and other loosely heading varieties of lettuce will regrow from the central crown if it is leave inviolate . Pick the outer leaves from these plant as harvest home , but leave the center alone where young little leaves are forming . The plant will get taller and you pick , with new leaves bulge out out all the time .
Heading Lettuce
Heading gelt like various Romaines can also regrow in the garden . You glean the head by cutting it off of the stem . If you ’re designed about leaving some stem in the ground , you may regrow your Romaine . a 2 - 3 inch stem with undamaged roots is all you take . The plant will pump out novel baby Romaine leaves within weeks . It will never form another courteous foreland like the original harvest , but it will give enough for a salad .
In the Kitchen
Regrowing wampum from scraps is a merriment and educational project for kids and family . It ’s easy to do and there ’s really not many supplies necessary . Here ’s what you ’ll need :
First , do n’t throw out that white stem that you ’re left over with after corrode a headway of boodle from the food market or grocery store . Instead , turn it into a coolheaded project and a young salad . post the stem into a shallow container of water system .
ensure that the bottom is down and the top is up . If you ca n’t remember which room is up , await at the focusing of the leaf client on the side of the stem , they typically designate upwards . Another indicator is the bottom of the stem that was slew long before the plant hit the supermarket ledge . That bottom will incline to be brown and hardened .
locate the bow into the container with enough water just to cut across the Qaeda . If unsure , you could cover up to 50 % of the stem , so put it one-half in the water and one-half out . Keep an eye on the water , it will demand to be changed every couple of days . If it appears foggy or smells dead , refresh it .
Within a duet of mean solar day , you will start to see new leaves pour down out of the stem ’s top . You will also see beginning starting to organize at the base of the base . Within a calendar week or two , your plant will have sprung forth novel leaves ready for corrode . They will be just as luscious as the original leaves . Like the stems in the ground , it wo n’t head up again . It will continue to regrow leaves until it bulge to move into a flowering level .
Seed Saving
One other thing you may do with your regrown lettuce scraps is let them sow . Reproduce a favourite variety from the granger market this way , or just catch the plant in all of its stages .
echo the above steps for regrowing from a stem scrap . When roots come along , put the plant in a pot with some ground and leave it in the window . The plant will leaf , and you could even eat these leaves . After a couple of weeks , it will transmit a primal anthesis shoot up from the treetop . This shoot produces a clump of purple , yellow , or white flowers reckon on your variety .
These flowers will pollinate themselves , so there ’s no motivation for bees or malarky for get seed from them . After the flowers wilt , they will be supercede with fluffy parachutes similar to those on a dandelion semen oral sex . Each parachute , call a pappus , will be attached to a few lettuce seminal fluid . They are very small , but unmistakable as the cargo of the pappus .
call for the seeds with your hands and plant them in the garden . Not only did this mind of wampum get eaten , but the stem acquire more leaves and then more lettuce for next years garden .
