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IN THIS GUIDE

LETTUCE GUIDES

A fully-grown lettuce plant with a round head and lots of leaves.

HarvestingSowing

If you glean lettuce from your own garden to take with you to your kitchen table , it will be packed full of flavour that store - bought boodle just wo n’t have .

you could savour this tasty veg right from June clear through to November .

A hand holding lettuce leaves with a large garden lawn in the background

But when precisely do you harvest lolly ?

This depends – of course – on when you inseminate the seeded player .

However , two additional factors come into sport . First , the time to matureness of the given diverseness , and , second , your personal ilk and need .

A lettuce plant with lots of leaves growing in a planter next to other leafy plants

All types of simoleons can be reap young or when fully mature .

Most varieties will be ready for harvest from 8 - 12 weeks after sprouting though a few diverseness take longer .

Harvesting Loose-Leaf Lettuce

Loose - Leaf lucre can be harvested on an on-going basissimilar to how you harvest chard .

Leaves can be picked from about 6 weeks after sowing or when the outside leave of absence have grown to about 15 centimetre .

The approximation is to take what you need from each flora while permit it to keep rise and bring forth fresh leaves until the end of autumn .

A sharp knife being used to cut the stem of a lettuce plant that has been slightly pulled out of the soil

nibble three or four leaves from each lettuce , move only for the outside leaves .

Gently pull aside a leaf and nip it at the stem a few centimetres off the undercoat .

If you use mini - secateurs or pair of scissors you die hard less risk of inadvertently slicing through other leave-taking .

A handful of lettuce leaves shown in front of a garden on a sunny day

Also , instead of bring the scissors or miniskirt - secateurs into the flora , run them at a tangent to the flora so that you are sure to isolate the leaf you want to cut .

you’re able to – of course – harvest the integral Loose - Leaf shekels in one go .

When To Harvest Head Lettuce

As state above , most lettuce smorgasbord will be ready for harvest in from 8 to 12 week , though a few varieties take longer .

You may glean scratch untried to fit your needs , but youmustharvest it by its ‘ Expiry Date ’ .

If you do n’t and the plant bolts , the clams will become bitter and inedible .

“ begin harvesting too soon and often , as if you wait too long your scratch will start to bolt and you ’ll have a lettuce oversupply on your hand , ” shares Horticultural Consultant Colin Skelly .

“ piffling and often is my maneuver when it comes to harvesting lettuce . ”

Fortunately , lettuce throws up a tell - taradiddle signal that you may presently lose it !

For all type of forefront lettuce that have a pear-shaped figure , if the round head shows the least mark of elongating , that lucre should straightaway be reap as it will otherwise bolt .

you could pre - empt this sign and still glean loot at its efflorescence of maturity .

For all hearting lettuce , include romaine or cos , plainly peer into the pelf , parting a few leaves as necessary .

If it has formed a heart , it is amply mature and is ready to harvest .

Harvesting Technique

Lettuce is best harvested in the former morning , particularly in summertime or red-hot atmospheric condition , otherwise you may well be break up limp , tired heads .

To harvest , firmly grasp the lettuce head with one mitt , lightly get out up and over to one side , and on the other side with the other hand , using a pair of secateurs or a sharp knife , foreshorten the stem flawlessly close to the soil .

You may shin the first time or two that you reap lettuce but you ’ll soon get the hang of it .

If you plan to harvest some of your wampum harvest betimes , then , instead of harvesting several heads growing adjacent to one another , you could pick every other lettuce ( assuming you do n’t need to clear a spell of land for some other crop ) .

hire alternating heads will allow the plants left behind room to develop even more in full .

Storage

After play in your lettuce , take out out leave in two and threes , then put in a shallow bowl and wash in cold running water .

The good place to ‘ lay in ’ your freshly - harvested lolly is on the kitchen table !

The delectable taste will diminish the longer lettuce is stored .

If you must store your harvested lettuce for a longer period of time , wrap it tightly in a polythene bag or cling film that has a few tiny golf hole , and store in the electric refrigerator ’s crisper .

The longer you keep it in the electric refrigerator , the less flavourful and succulent it will get .

We suggest you keep it in the electric refrigerator for a uttermost of four 24-hour interval .