Top Tips for Cut and Come Again Leaf Crops

Top Tips for Cut and Come Again Leaf Crops

‘Eat your greens’ and your reds, whites and purples in a mixed salad.

Grow leaf crops from seed and use the leaves as needed. When the leaves are 2-5 inches  high, which will take four to five weeks, they’re ready to eat. Loose-leaf lettuces need to have leaves harvested regularly.  In the fridge they’ll keep for three days or so.

Vegetables raised as cut-and-come-again crops can be planted much closer together than you normally would since the veggies are not going to be maturing into full sized plants before harvest time.
Lettuce -  Bijou & Freckles
It’s better to stagger your sowing and planting to avoid a glut and so that you can maintain a continuous supply of harvestable leafy greens.

Harvesting is as simple as using a pair of scissors   to cut the plants after they reach a height of about two to six inches. Leave behind about a half-inch of stubble and the cotyledons 2 outer leaves on to resume growth.

Grow in containers to stop slugs and pests. Alternatively grow in a raised bed to make cutting easier. Most leaf crops like cool moist roots but do not appreciate too much overhead watering.

A range of salad and leaf crops can be grown as Cut and Come Again see below:

Common Name No of Cuts Lasts in Months
Perpetual Spinach 3 plus 6 plus
Texel green 2 2-3
Red Mustard 2 2-3
Salad Rape 3-4 3-4
Kale 2-4 6 plus
Pak Choy 2-3 2-4
Mizuna greens 3-4 4
Curly Endive 2-3 3-4
Sugar Loaf Chicory 2-3 3-4
Salad Rocket 3-5 2-3
Salad Bowl lettuce 2-3 3-4
Radish 2 1-2
Corn Salad 2-3 3 plus

3 thoughts on “Top Tips for Cut and Come Again Leaf Crops

  1. How do I treat the container after all the lettuce (or other veg for that matter), has expired? Can I sow new seeds immediately in the old compost? Do I need to dig out all the old stumps and/or roots of the previous lettuce?
    Also, can I use the old compost in pots the following year, or would pests and mould be an issue? I am imagining that I’d need to replenish the compost with a bit of chicken pooh or other fertilizer if this were the case.

  2. I use old compost around garden shrubs and try to use new compost for new seedlings or veg.
    Your compost may have enough nutrient left for another crop particularly if it only grew lettuce, if it grew tomatoes then start again.
    Chicken poo will be too strong but a bit of slow release fertilizer would help.

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