I bought this red lettuce from a store a few months ago and decided to see if I could keep it fresh a little longer or maybe grow a bit more.
Well… I definitely got a bit more! But what’s happening? Should I do anything? Can I still eat it?
At first, it just started growing a cute little top about two or three weeks ago, but then it just kept going. Hopefully, someone has the answer before it grows legs and starts moving around🫠.
I’ve done pretty much nothing to it. I just placed it where I had some space on the balcony and watered it occasionally. It has a tall-ish blooming cilantro as a neighbor, about 30-40 cm apart.
Yes, it will produce little dandelion-like flowers, which will then turn into fuzzy seed heads. These will dry out and yield a surprisingly large number of tiny, fennel seed-shaped seeds. You can either carefully harvest them or scatter them wildly around the garden. Either way, you’re on the fast track to lettuce self-sufficiency!
My garden was filled with spotted trout lettuce this year, but my neighbors, who are encouraged to help themselves, wouldn’t touch it because they thought it was bad.
My dad’s garden had one sad head of lettuce that bolted two years ago during a rough season. This year, the seeds suddenly sprouted, filling the grow bed and the surrounding area with fantastic lettuce plants. They were too close together to develop into full heads, but we could pick leaves all summer, collecting enough for a family salad each day. Hidden blessings!
When lettuces grow up and really like each other, they produce adorable little yellow flowers, followed by hundreds of tiny black seeds. Each seed, if planted, will grow into a new lettuce plant.
I always let at least one lettuce bolt and go to seed, so I get volunteer lettuce in the spring. Interestingly, these volunteer plants are much healthier than the ones I plant and nurture.
But what’s happening? Should I do anything? Can I still eat it?
