How to cut leaf lettuce for salad

Harvesting Lettuce With the Cut-and-Come-Again Method

The cut and come again method works best with loose leaf lettuce types.

When to harvest romaine lettuce

Examples include red, green and oak leaf lettuces. You can also harvest early leaves from loose heading types such as Romaine and butterhead or wait to pick until a full head has matured.

1. Plant Looseleaf Varieties That Mature Quickly

   If the seed packet indicates your lettuce variety is ready for harvest in 35 days, that means you'll have leaves big enough to pick just over a month after planting.

   If you sow seed in March or April, you can potentially stretch the harvest out until late June by consistently picking the outer leaves.
   

2. Start Harvesting Early in the Season

   Mature lettuce plants can tolerate a light frost, but young plants will be damaged.

   If you live somewhere that doesn't frost in the winter, you can plant early and start harvesting outer leaves as soon as they reach 4 to 6 inches in length. Planting and picking early can increase the length of your harvest by 30 days or m

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