Questions about romaine lettuce

[MommaHawk]

I am growing some romaine lettuce for the first time and I think it is about ready to harvest, but the leaves are still a little loose, but they are nice and dark green. My concern is that the main vein that runs down the middle of each leaf has some spikes on it. They are not real stiff like a thorn, but they are stiff enough I'm not sure I want to eat them. Has anyone else got romaine lettuce that has these spikes and if so do you eat them.
Thanks for any help.

 

[digitS']

Sure, MommaHawk!

There are some romaines that are more refined, seems like Little Gem was one of those. But, romaines are kind of the Vin Diesels of the lettuce world.

I'm more of a butterhead person myself but appreciate the romaines. They are a little tough but, I mean, mustard and Worcestershire sauce need a romaine! Some people even use this lettuce with anchovies!


Like greenbeans with fuzz - lettuce leaves probably get slapped around enuf by the food industry, they can show up in a different state on the produce aisle. But, just think of yourself as a 21st century forager in the garden.

Steve

 

[MommaHawk]

I will certainly pass on the anchovies!

I guess I will have to refine my choices of lettuce next year. We buy romaine at the store because it will last longer and is more affordable than the bag lettuces. My goal next year is to order seed from a seed catalog, not just pick and choose from Walmart or Lowes.

Thanks for the input.

 

[digitS']

It would be easy to become a lettuce gourmet with a source like Johnny's Seed. There is no reason to accept anything but exactly what you want with so many choices.

My garden has a challenging climate for lettuce. When it does warm up around here - it is quick and too arid! I mean, we can go thru the 3 months of summer with only 3 inches of rain!

Romaine is one that I can cut at the soil level; come back in 2 weeks and make sure it doesn't have more than 2 buds so that they will make some size; and come back in another 2 weeks and harvest more young lettuce. Romaine makes it farther into summer dryness than the other choices.

Batavian (crisphead) is a real good compromise between a tough-as-they-go Romaine and a more tender variety. I'm pleased with that group and gardeners really don't need to go the iceberg route if they don't want to. Still, that's reasonable also. "Summertime" has done just fine in my garden.
Happy Gardening & Welcome to TEG !

Steve

 

[patandchickens]

Romaine is one that I can cut at the soil level; come back in 2 weeks and make sure it doesn't have more than 2 buds so that they will make some size; and come back in another 2 weeks and harvest more young lettuce. Romaine makes it farther into summer dryness than the other choices.

Another thing that Romaine takes to quite well, and can avoid some of the issues with funky tough/rough midribs on the most-mature leaves, is harvesting a few of the outer leaves every few days or week. My belief is that you get higher total harvest per plant this way than if you take the whole mature plant. And it results in getting less-mature leaves which are a bit tenderer than the outer ones of a mature plant.

Really the "harvest a few outer leaves every few days" thing works excellently with everything EXCEPT head lettuce, although it is kind of more work than it's worth for buttercrunch/tom-thumb types IMO.

Meanwhile, for the lettuce you actually HAVE at present, if you don't think you want to eat the rough midribs, just cut that part out before making your salad

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[i_am2bz]

I had to go out & check my Romaine (Parris Island) after reading this...I didn't see anything on the ribs, but ran my finger down a few & felt a little "something" there...not enough that would prevent me from eating them, tho!

 

[tinychicken]

Ditto what Pat said.

I've always harvested the outer leaves on an every day or every other day basis. That way I'm not stuck with 10 heads of romaine all at once, and the outer leaves are harvested while still nice and tender.

 

[MommaHawk]

I've got lots to learn.
I'm going to try to cut them off at the base, leaving the roots and hopefully they will grow back, if not I've got some more growing that are too small to harvest and I will try just taking the outer leaves on them.
Thanks so much for your help!

 

[vfem]

Totally agree, I'm a leave harvester! I do it with my chinese cabbage (which gets those spikes as well and I will remove the rib and sautee those), do it with my spinach so they seem to go on forever, and even with my loose leaf lettuces. I do salad greens rather then heads because I want to use the least amount of space, and only harvest what I need, when I need it. When the season is over they just all bolt and out 1/2 come while the rest produce seeds for me.

As for your lettuce, just rib it like you do kale... live and learn!

 

[i_am2bz]

Yesterday I had a salad of romaine, green leaf (Grand Rapids), red leaf (Red Sails), & spinach...all from snipping outer leaves.

Sorry, couldn't resist the brag!