Add easy-care lettuce to your garden this year
I find it fascinating that each vegetable has its own unique way of growing. For example, as baby eggplants grow, it seems impossible that the rather spindly plant can support the weight of multiple eggplants. But Mother Nature somehow allows it to work, even though it basically defies the laws of gravity.
One vegetable blows my mind year after year. It’s almost comical how effortless it is to grow. In fact, the rapid speed at which the leaves come back thicker and fuller after you cut them weirdly reminds me of the old wives’ tale my mom told me in seventh grade when I begged to start shaving my legs.
Can we talk about leaf lettuce for a hot second?
I love growing leaf lettuce because we eat a lot of it, and having less organic produce to buy for a few months makes a decent difference on my grocery bill. Plus, homegrown just tastes better.
Lettuce is a plant that boosts your confidence as a gardener. It grows relatively quickly, which is always a bonus after a long winter when you’re excited to get your hands dirty and see the fruits of your labor in just a few short weeks. When those first minuscule leaves pop up in the perfect lines you sowed them in (unless like me, you have a punk chipmunk who lives in your yard and likes to jack up your neatly planted beds), it almost brings a tear of pride and joy to your eyeballs.
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And the leaves really start to grow. So, you cut and eat lettuce. But you only cut enough for dinner because you don’t want to cut it all at once. You want to save some for dinner tomorrow night too. This, friends, is where it starts to get hilarious. Because somehow, some way, every single time you cut yourself a big harvest of lettuce, before you know it, there is it again… fully grown in all its green lettuce glory!
Now, maybe you’re like me and look around for the neighbor who is replanting grown lettuce in the night to pull the prank of all pranks. But no. It’s just how quickly lettuce grows. You eat it today, and tomorrow there is more. Heck, it’s probably grown back before your dinner is even over.
The lettuce magic fades...
This is cute and adorable until you’ve eaten salad for 47 straight days and given away a bale of lettuce daily to each of your neighbors, and the lettuce is still growing. It gets a little less funny and magical at this point, so you finally let it go to seed and thank Mother Nature for the hot temperatures that will make it harder for lettuce to grow.
Until fall, of course. By then, you’ve forgotten how lettuce works, and you get excited about never-ending lettuce again. Bless our hearts.
Give Jamie the biggest chef’s salad with all the veggies, homemade croutons and ranch dressing in a lovely antique mixing bowl with a pickle on the side, and she’s a happy camper. Check out her salads and more about her garden on Instagram @JamieSeitzAuthor.
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