All of you lazy gardeners out there, listen up! Do you want to get more produce without having to replant your crops?
Well, cut-and-come-again vegetables may be the perfect choice for your garden.
Here are 9 vegetables you can harvest multiple times throughout the growing season to have a continuous supply:
9. Lettuce
Not only is lettuce super easy and cheap to grow, but it can also be harvested repeatedly during the growing season, allowing you to acquire an abundant supply.
Once your leaf lettuce grows 4-6 inches tall, snip off the outer leaf as needed but let the center part remain. The leaves will grow back continuously as long as the crown stays intact.
8. Arugula
The best thing about arugula and some of the other leafy greens on this list is that they offer abundant supply in the form of small, baby leaves as well as fully grown, mature leaves. You can pick young, tender leaves starting at 2-3 inches tall for the best flavor.
Arugula also grows relatively quick, even when the temperature conditions might be too low for other vegetables out there.
7. Spinach
Spinach is a cut-and-come-again vegetable in the truest sense. If harvested frequently during the growing season, it encourages new growth, providing a continuous supply.
You can snip the outer spinach leaves when they’re about 3-4 inches long and let the center continue to grow so you can have a larger spinach harvest by the end of the season.
6. Kale
You can start snipping leaves from your kale plants when they are about the size of your palm. Be sure to start with the lower leaves though since the top of the plant needs to stay intact if you want ongoing leaf production.
Since kale isn’t my most favorite green, I don’t really need the continuous harvests so I just pick all of it at once. But, I do understand that some people out there might enjoy an ongoing supply of this leafy vegetable so this one’s for them.
5. Swiss Chard
Many of you might not know this, but Swiss chard is also a cut-and-come-again vegetable. Many gardeners prefer harvesting their outer stalks when they’re about 6 inches tall and letting the core in between remain intact. During the growing season, new stems grow continuously from the center.
4. Mustard Greens
Mustard greens offer both small, baby leaves and large, mature leaves depending on the growing period of the plant. Young leaves can be harvested when they reach 4-6 inches and have a mild, peppery flavor to them.
It’s important to harvest mustard greens regularly in warm weather as it prevents bolting and keeps the plants fresh and healthy.
3. Collard Greens
Collard greens take the cake for being one of the longest growing cut-and-come-again vegetables out there. And, I do not mean longest by height or length, it’s actually the growing duration. Pick leaves from the bottom up when the greens are 6-8 inches long and the plant will keep growing upward for months on end!
2. Herbs
Herbs like basil, oregano, cilantro, and parsley are excellent cut-and-come-again plants that will provide you with a continuous fresh supply during their respective growing season. Snip stems or leaves as needed, but try your best not to take more than one-third of the plant at a time to allow for sustainable regrowth.
1. Green Onions
When you’re going about harvesting your green onions, trim only the green tops and leave at least 1 inch of the onions above the soil instead of pulling them out entirely. You’ll be surprised to see how many times your onions regrow from the same bulbs.
Conclusion
Although I wouldn’t consider myself a lazy gardener, I still have a good amount of cut-and-come-again vegetables in my garden for a simple continuous supply during any season. Some plants offer quite the large yields too.
Thanks to these crops, I’m quite literally never out of vegetables (especially the ones I like) and haven’t seen the fresh produce section of a grocery store in a very long time now.
Give cut-and-come-again crops a shot and make gardening simple for yourself!
