Friday
I am starting a series of posts – chop and drop is what it is called. We go through a head of lettuce about every day, so I thought I would take you along with me this morning while it’s still cool to see what the process looks like. I chop and replace my heads of lettuce.
Some gardeners grow a sea of leaves and use the “cut and come again” method. I have tried this, and I get a lot of slugs, snails, and other creepies that like to nest up in the dense leaves. I do not recommend this method if your climate is at all damp or if you have seen these critters in your gardens.
Instead, I highly recommend this method of chopping and replacing. More on this in other posts. Or maybe I will write a guide on this.
Today’s beautiful head of lettuce is Flashy Troutback – from my own saved seeds. I do this as early as I can in the morning, while the lettuce is still crisp.
Tonight’s Caesar salad night! Flashy troutback is a very hardy romaine type lettuce. Don’t like romaine? I have a garden pal that said she hates it. But once she tried her own homegrown flashy troutback, she loved it! I save the seeds for it from my garden, so they are adapted to Middle Tennessee. If you would like some of these seeds, leave a comment below.
My method for lettuce is a bit involved but it’s quick. Here’s what I do:
Chop the head off at the base and remove the cuff if it is still there.
- Use my scissors to cut up the roots and mash it into the soil.
- Next to the rootball, I dig a spot for a new lettuce transplant.
- Add some slow release fertilizer if it’s been a while
- Pop the transplant in
- Cover with mulch
- Add a cuff
