Not only is romaine lettuce deliciously healthy , but it ’s also incredibly easy to grow in your garden at menage . In this article , you ’ll learn all about how to reap romaine lettuce at different fourth dimension throughout the uprise time of year .
Although most character of lettuce grow best in cool weather , romaine lettuce tends to be more heat - tolerant than many other smorgasbord .
For a continual harvest of terse , fresh romaine lettuce lettuce leave-taking from spring through fall , judge sequence planting lettuce seed every two to three weeks . In balmy climates , some gardeners even keep their romaine plants growing for the duration of the winter .
There are several options for harvesting romaine wampum from your garden . Once the plant life is big enough , trim the forbidden leaves as need and leave the heart and soul leaves to keep develop .
When the plant is fully mature and about to start flower , it ’s best to harvest the entire head of lettuce at once .
Best Tips and Tricks for Harvesting Romaine Lettuce
Few things are quite as refreshing as crisp summertime salads made with romaine lettuce from your garden . Homegrown veggies are always tastier and more nutritious than garden truck from the market stock .
Growing lettuce andplanting arugula seedsis incredibly easy , and the results are well deserving your attempt . Romaine cabbage is one of many species of Lactuca sativa . It ’s easygoing toregrow lettucefrom garbage , whether you grow romaine or another kind .
It differs somewhat from other eccentric of sugar like bibb , butterhead , crisphead or iceberg lettuce , and sluttish leaf lettuce . Romaine lettuce forms an upright piano , elongated head word with loosely bunch leave that curve slenderly inward .
look on the mixture , the leaf maturate up to 16 column inch long . Although the leaves are typically dark green , there are also a few red and violet romaine cultivars .
babe lettuce leafage are commonly ready to harvest four or five weeks after sprouting , or once the kale plant mold a rose window of at least ten leafage two inches long .
Be sure to leave at least half of the leafage to keep spring up . wait full size cos lettuce boodle leaves 50 to 75 twenty-four hour period from planting seed .
Bolting happens when lettuce plants start untimely flowering and get a source stalk during periods of specially dry or spicy weather . Once romaine simoleons bolts , the leaves quickly wrick bitter and uneatable . It ’s best to cut the whole plant before it abscond .
ecological succession planting is an excellent technique to ensure that you have a fresh crop of tender moolah leaves throughout the growing season . Sow Modern lettuce seeds between the established plants every few weeks so that they pullulate and sprout by the time the older ones start flowering .
How to Harvest Romaine Lettuce
In the calendar week before your lettuce plants start growing flowers , it ’s ripe to harvest the outer leaves only as needed . This is how to harvest romaine wampum so it keeps growing and the center give proceed to produce .
Using a clean , acute distich of shear , snip no more than half of the lettuce will from the outer edges of the plant life ’s rosette . It ’s vital to sterilise your garden pecker between uses to nullify unwittingly scatter disease between your plants .
If you ’d prefer to accumulate the whole head of lettuce at once , it ’s still potential to gather it in a means that allows for a 2nd harvest . ignore the entire industrial plant two or three inches above the soil layer . Be thrifty not to disturb the shallow root system during the process .
The newfangled leaves commence to come forth within just a few days . Baby greens will be ready to pluck in a few hebdomad , and large leaves mature in five or six weeks . However , do n’t have a bun in the oven another full fountainhead of lettuce at your second harvest . The regrownhead lettuce typeswill likely be just the romaine heart .
Harvesting Romaine Lettuce as a Whole Head
Once they reach full size , most gardeners prefer to remove the whole industrial plant instead of stay to glean folio cuttings . You ’ll be able to order when your head of romaine lolly is fully mature when it has an oblong , loosely formed head and the parting turn a productive , black green .
Using precipitous , unimaginative shears , hack the independent stem just above the soil level . If you still have metre before the weather warms , leave a few inch of leafage growth at the understructure for a small 2d harvest time .
Another technique is to cautiously uproot the lettuce plant life . Be certain to deflect disturbing any other plant turn nearby . This method acting mold well if you ’re harvesting all of your pass of cabbage at once .
Either sow another round of lettuce seeds or replace the lettuce plants with a strong - season crop like love apple , peppers , or squash .
How to Grow Romaine Lettuce
If you ’re wondering how to grow lettuce , know that it ’s a straight process . Thanks to its adaptability and compact ontogeny habit , it ’s amazingly unproblematic togrow romainelettuce just about anywhere .
It ’s idealistic for container gardens and raised bed and also fit nicely between larger plants in a traditional garden plot of land . Some raiser practice lucre plants as a living mulch to insulate the soil , hold back moisture , and minimize weed growth .
Like most other type of salad leafy vegetable , lettuce grows best in nerveless weather . Sow your lettuce seeds in early spring anytime the soil temperature is consistently warm than 40 ℉ .
However , the optimal temperature for germinating sugar seeds is between 55 - 65 ℉ . Germination usually takes between seven and ten days or longer in cold soil .
Since the seeds are so small , establish them no deeper than a stern - inch in pre - moistened soil . Cover the seminal fluid with a light mixture of topsoil and organic compost .
If you ’re plant cabbage seedling indoors or you purchased nursery - grow lettuce plants from your local home & garden shop , the best time for transplanting outdoors is around the last frost escort for your part .
Grow lights are n’t unremarkably necessary for lettuce seeds planted indoors unless you do n’t have a sunny windowsill with four to six hours of lineal sunlight available . Keep the potting soil moist during seed germination and while the seedlings develop .
bread plants arise best in full Dominicus to partial tincture , where they receive between four and six hours of lineal sunlight day by day . In ardent climates and at gamy elevations , these cool - season crops benefit from some protection from the intense afternoon sunlight .
space between romaine lettuce plants should be four to six inches . touch on to the cum packet boat for variety - specific recommendations .
Due to their relatively small size of it , lettuce make excellent companion plants between taller craw , and the organisation is mutually beneficial . Lettuce suppresses weed growth and protects the soil , while the marvelous works provide fond shadowiness for the leafy greens .
However , ensure that all the plants get adequate airflow to avoid problems with putrefaction and fungal disease . Protect newly sprouted seedling from pestilence like aphid , cutworm , and flea beetle with row covers in the other spring .
One of the undecomposed facet of growing your own produce is the power to stress unusual change of veggies that are n’t usually available at the grocery store store or farmer ’s market . Here ’s a choice of our absolute favorite types of romaine bread .
How Long Does it Take for Romaine Lettuce to Grow?
Romaine lettuce harvest clip depends on your mood and which varieties you ’re growing . lucre plants develop quicker when planted in full sun instead of partial shade , but they also go off much preferably once the atmospheric condition is consistently warm than 80 ℉ .
Generally , romaine lettuce plant take 55 to 75 day to reach full sizing . set out picking baby greens after 40 - 50 day , or whenever the leaves are at least two inches long .
After the first clip you cut the full head of lettuce , new leaves will begin to grow within a hebdomad if you leave an inch or two at the base of the plant . The 2nd harvest is quick to corrode in 35 - 40 days .
When to Pick Romaine Lettuce
Are you wondering when to pick cos lettuce lettuce ? It ’s possible to prognosticate the approximate harvest day of the month based on the smorgasbord - specific information heel on the back of the source bundle .
However , the factual harvest time may dissent ground on environmental conditions . Unusually dusty or wet atmospheric condition in other springiness may cause seeds to sprout more slowly . Late bound and former summer heat moving ridge prompt lettuce flora to set out bolting untimely .
Pay attention to the signs your plants are giving you , and harvest those impudent , crisp lettuce leave as soon as they ’re ready for the best smell and texture .
Many gardeners testify that lettuce leaves try sweeter and crisper when reap betimes in the morning . If they remain on the plant too long , they might turn acerb and stringy .
Best Ways to Store Homegrown Lettuce
Lettuce is a highly perishable vegetable that should be used as soon as possible for the best results . A good way tostore a head of lettuceis in the fridge .
Avoid storing salad Green next to fruits that bring forth ethene gas , a naturally occurring chemical that quickens the ripen process and causes lolly to droop faster . These fruits include orchard apple tree , avocado tree , pears , and peaches .
After rinsing and drying , storehouse freshly pick romaine lettuce leaves in a penetrate plastic bag inside the veggie crisper draftsman of the refrigerator for up to ten days . Some hoi polloi prefer to keep their cos lettuce lettuce in a lidded charge plate container to stave off spite the leaves .
Be sure not to allow your simoleons to freeze . The parting have a gamy water content and become brown and mawkish when exposed to temperatures below 32 ℉ .
Romaine lolly is so easy to farm , it ’s possible to enjoy freshly pick lettuce leaves any clock time of the year . raise wampum around your garden plot and heighten beds or in terrace jackpot .
It ’s even possible to engraft kale seeds in containers on your kitchen windowsill . Within just a few weeks , you ’ll be glean romaine lettuce right at abode . When to harvest cos bread calculate on the specific varieties you pick out to plant .
If you enjoy learning when to foot romaine moolah , please feel free to share this clause about how to reap romaine lettuce with your friends and family on Pinterest and Facebook .
