This topic contains 3 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by charles 10 years, 11 months ago.
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SO many things, you may have done them already.
Yes weekly picking keeps plants young; never cutting their baby leaves, always removing outer leaves.
Spacing about 9 inches each way – closer spacing means they feel they are running out of room for roots and leaves, creates desire to go to seed.
Soil with enough organic matter to hold moisture and sufficient nutrients, as described elsewhere on the site.
The right varieties eg Salad Bowl goes to seed more quickly than the others I recommend.
Picking old and decaying leaves off to keep slugs less interested. Also all weeds.
And general good growing eg if close to a hedge which sucks moisture from soil, plants are stressed and then flower earlier.
Wishing you sucess!
Slight tangent but similar enough….
Having only really planted successions for heading lettuce, around 1 per 3 weeks through the summer I’m new to the picking leaves game…
However, I’m presuming that one lettuce will not last the whole season in perfect health sohaving just started to tease the odd leaf off the first round of lettuce I’m wondering if anyone has a vague rule of thumb about when to plant the next batch??
Many thanks!If your soil is healthy and reasonably rich in compost, and you are growing varieties such as Chartwell, Freckles, Maravilla di Verano etc (not Salad Bowl!), and you pick carefully (not difficult with a bit of practice), then ten weeks picking is possible, or longer.
Allow five weeks in summer from sow to first pick, so you could make a second sowing four or five weeks from now, by mid July, to keep you in lettuce until October.
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