Spinach/Lettuce Harvesting

I have a few raised bed that I decided to grow lettuce and spinach in and take advantage of some of the cool crops before the warm weather plants will go in. We still are a good month away from harvesting the plants, but was wondering how the best way to harvest spinach and lettuce is? I watched a video that suggested just cutting off the leaves/head you wanted and leaving the rest of the plant in the dirt to regenerate. I never realized that spinach and lettuce will regenerate new leaves. I assumed that when ready to harvest, you just pull the whole plant up. If in fact they regenerate, I may leave some of these in to try to take advantage of a second round.

Spinach and leaf lettuces/romaines will grow new leaves when cut. I usually harvest in a cut and come again method - don't cut the whole plant, just cut leaves as you need them. I think head lettuce (iceberg types) are a one shot harvest though. Same goes for chard, beet greens, herbs, green onoins... I cut what I need and harvest all season!

I've been having good luck extending my lettuce and greens by growing in the shade of tall thick plants.

Thanks for the tips. I think I will try to get some more out of my leafy spinaches and lettuces that just the one shot.

Harvest some and let the rest grow is what I do, too. Seems to work well.

Soon it will be too hot for lettuce, so I'm going to try to grow some indoors under grow lights.

I love my salads!

It can be done, gilraen. I wish I'd planted more.

Actually, I keep it kind of warm in here, and I'm wondering if it caused the one in the front (oak leaf?) to have a hint of bitterness.

I have a mixed packet of summer (heat-tolerant) lettuce that I'm going to try outdoors and see how that does in midsummer. Of course, we don't have heat like you have in TX, so it's a little different. Good luck to you with your indoor lettuce patch!

Indy: Hi neighbor! Welcome to Dave's Garden.

For some reason I thought chard could keep on going, if you just cut the outer leaves off. In fact, I thought that because it descends from a beet, it will sometimes come back a second year from the root.

This is my first year starting arugula from seed and I'm completely amazed at how easy it seems to be (all fingers crossed.) I transplanted it out two or three weeks ago and it endured a few light frosts without any damage. And while the rabbits or ground squirrels have gnawed off all the leaves from 100 young roses, they have left my arugula alone.

Steve, I don't know about AZ, but my chard lasted all summer and half of the winter. I just took stalks from around the outside of the plants, as it produced more in the center.

Steve, my chard is just about done as we're hovering close to 90°, but I bet you can grow it most of the summer in Prescott...