How Many Times Can You Harvest Lettuce from a Salad Box?

Gardenary is all about making the garden an ordinary part of your everyday life. One of the simplest ways to achieve that is with a Super Simple Salad Box, or SSSB, as I like to call it (Should I get that trademarked?), filled with low-maintenance cut-and-come-again lettuce. So just how many times can you cut and come again in an SSSB? 

It’s like that age-old question: How many licks does it really take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? If I remember correctly, the answer was more than you might have expected. Well, the same goes for how many times you can harvest from your SSSB. 

I sowed a salad seed mix in my box about 60 or so days ago and have been harvesting from it at least a few times a week. When I look at the plants in my box, I can see harvest marks where I’ve come in and cut leaves before. Each lettuce plant is also starting to bolt in the heat by sending up thick center stalks that will go to seed. The good news is, there's still at least one more harvest in most of these plants, even as they start to bolt. I’ve found that I can harvest from these plants at least three times before the flavor starts to change or the plant goes to seed.

Here's how you can tell if the plants are still good to eat:

the Lettuce Test

If I don’t see a center stalk forming, I’ll cut a leaf and see if it produces a little bit of milk. The technical name for the milk is actually lactucarium (like lactus, the Latin word for milk). Lettuce milk is completely harmless, but it is a sign that the plant has moved out of its optimal growing stage for eating and is now moving into the seed formation part of its life. If I see milk on the plant, I do a little taste test. If the plant has become bitter-tasting, it’s headed for the compost. If it tastes okay, I’ll harvest as much as I can to eat that day.

Red lettuces tend to last longer than green, and romaine varieties of the green will usually last longer than the softer butter-type varieties. Once my plants have gone to seed and taste bitter, I’ll remove them, fill the garden with a layer of compost, and plant some more greens, something like arugula for now until it cools off again. In the fall, I’ll be ready for more cool weather sweet lettuce blends. 

So, as long as you’re staying within their optimal growing conditions, you can harvest from lettuce at least three or four times each. (For more on how to harvest lettuce, check out this post.) When plants like the temperature/climate they’re growing in, they’re in no hurry to produce seed and you can get more leaf production. 

If you haven’t tried growing your own lettuce yet, it’s one of the easiest ways to get introduced to the kitchen garden. I wish you many bountiful lettuce harvests and delicious organic salads in your future!