Cut and come again salad questions

crux

Apologies if this question has been asked before ad infinitum, etc etc..

I did do a search but it brought up millions of irrelevant threads

I'm a container veg grower, in the past we have grown salad leaves, but only in the traditional way of growing mature plants. That way you don't get much lettuce from a few pots.

So... I was wondering the best way to grow cut & come again salad leaves in 8 plastic containers ( 8inch wide, 2 foot long, 8-10 inch deep ) and get continuous crops each week?

I want maximum production as we eat an immense amount of salad leaves every week.

Things I would 'like' to grow are:

Spinach
Land cress
Lolo roso
Cos
Rocket

Can I really pack in the seeds close and kind of intensively grow them to baby leaves and then crop, if I do that will the above re-grow or is it start again each time?

Thanks in advance for any help.

wallbash

I know the expression is .... cut & come again.
But the seeds are really cheap , so I just pick the whole plant ( when very small) and resow.

crux

Do you think it's a faster turn around that way or just more convenient?

conradmum

You can also literally cut the head off all of those and they'll grow more leaves, no need to resow. You don't have to sow them thickly either. The seed is tiny and an average of two seeds sprouting every square inch is plenty.

kimmee

Last year I sowed mixed leaves and am doing the same again this year, in a container a little bigger than your one. I waited till they were the right size and picked whichever leaves I needed on a daily basis until the plants were no longer productive but I sowed successionally (about every two weeks) and was eating salad all summer long. This year I'm also growing spinach for salad but in seperate pots and I'm doing the same for them too.

I personally didn't thin them out, just sowed them and grew them and ate them!!

heynonnynonny

Mine seem very close together and straggly...shall I just leave them be?? Going to sow some every week....no way am I paying a quid for a bag of leaves when can pay a quid for hundreds of seeds and grow loads!!

kimmee

heynonnynonny wrote: »

Mine seem very close together and straggly...shall I just leave them be?? Going to sow some every week....no way am I paying a quid for a bag of leaves when can pay a quid for hundreds of seeds and grow loads!!

I'd just leave them be and make sure they have enough water - if you're just sowing for cut & come again baby leaves they'll be fine

wallbash

I suppose the question we should ask ourselves, do you have a quicker second crop ,
from fresh seeds or leaving the 'stump' to regrow??

In theory leaving the 'stump' should be better. roots are already established.
But fresh seeds would grow closer together .

I don't Know!

rosie383

If I am picking the leaves as and when I need them, do I pick the leaves from around the outside of the plant, or the smaller ones inside?

kimmee

rosie383 wrote: »

If I am picking the leaves as and when I need them, do I pick the leaves from around the outside of the plant, or the smaller ones inside?

I pick the largest leaves, leaving the smaller ones to grow - I used to get plenty of picking per plant last year but still sowed more ready for when the current batch were all picked out!!

rosie383

Thanks. Mine are just showing as wee seedlings at the minute, and I need to get more to keep sowing. I did like the girl on the BBC2 prog did, ie, she sowed them in a wee circle rather then rows. I made indentations with an oval ice cream tub and they look really nice rather than a straggly row.