Cut and Come Again

Today's Gardening for Geeks glossary term refers to a method of harvesting known as cut-and-come-again. It's a clever way of extending the harvest of various food crops. Take lettuce, for example. One way of harvesting it would be to cut the heads by severing them at ground level. Another way would be to pull up the entire plant, roots and all. There's nothing wrong with either of those approaches, but why put an abrupt end to the plant's production when it has so much more to offer? Instead, why not harvest only a few tasty outer leaves at a time, enough to whip up a nice salad, and let the plant continue to produce even more leaves, which it will do for several weeks. That's the basic idea behind the cut-and-come-again technique. Though it's most often applied to greens of one form or another such as lettuce and spinach, it also works well on a few other plants.

Probably the best example of the cut-and-come-again harvest technique applies to herbs that can be harvested, and in a matter of days, the plant will produce new leaves.

Also in this Episode

Gardening by the Yard : Episode GBY-209
•	Shade Gardening
•	Gardening Etiquette
•	Mollusk Madness
•	Cut and Come Again