What happens if you harvest a lettuce by cutting it and don’t uproot it?
How do we cut a lettuce from the garden?
The classic way to harvest lettuce from the garden is to uproot it. Pull it out of the soil with its root.
Cut off the root and consume the delicious lettuce.
This time I cut the lettuce and don’t uproot it
A neighbor, Mr. Takis, posed the question to me:
“What happens if instead of uprooting the lettuce you cut it and leave some leaves? Will it grow again?”
“Interesting question”, I said. “I’ll give it a try”!
So on the next few lettuces, instead of pulling them out, I cut them just above the base. I left a few leaves and the root of the lettuce in the ground.
The new growth of the lettuce
Two weeks later, the lettuce had not wilted. On the contrary!
New stems and leaves had begun to grow around the perimeter. I could describe them, as small lettuces.
But with one distinctive difference from what I would expect.
Before I cut the lettuce, it was ready to bloom and set seed. It had made a top with flowers.
The new stems were not just lettuce. They were all primed to bloom, as you can see in the photo.
Nature was picking up the work where I left off!
Impressive!
Tags: GARDEN • LETTUCE • VEGETABLES
