Don’t throw away your salad just yet! Let’s regrow our own lettuce.

If you’re like me, you’ve been taking full advantage of all the fresher produce available during the warmer months. Salads are fresh and light and perfect for the hot weather. More fruits and vegetables mean lots and lots of salads! From fruit salads at the pool to pasta salad at our neighborhood barbeques, summer is salad season.

About a month ago, I saw someone make a post about how they’ve been saving their romaine lettuce to regrow their own lettuce. I was immediately intrigued and decided to do a little research to see if I too could grow my own lettuce. Spoiler alert: I CAN! And I have been.

How To Regrow Romaine Lettuce

Despite my love for salads in the summer, lettuce is actually a cool weather plant! It grows great in the fall. Due to this fact, I decided to start growing my lettuce inside. Here’s exactly what I did to grow my own romaine lettuce!

After picking the leaves from my romaine lettuce, I continued to peel the lettuce off until I exposed the core. During my research, I read that you could also chop the bottom part of the romaine off and use that to start your regrowth. Although I tried this method, I saw little to no growth. When I peeled the leaves to the core however, I saw growth within the first 24 hours.

Once you’ve exposed the core of the romaine lettuce, place the lettuce in a cup or coffee cup with a small amount of water at the bottom. Place this cup in a windowsill or sunny spot. Within days you should see your lettuce start growing! This activity is especially great for kids and new gardeners because it only takes a few days to see positive results.

To harvest your lettuce leaves, simply pull the leaves from the outside, using the oldest leaves first.

What is so cool about these lettuce plants is that they keep regrowing! Once you harvest the leaves, the lettuce still continues to grow more.

Here Are Some Reasons I’m Loving Regrowing My Own Lettuce:

• It’s an opportunity to teach my son where food comes from. We often buy our fruit and vegetables from the grocery store but never really consider where they came from.
• I want to eat more lettuce. There is something about growing your own food that makes you that much more excited to eat it! Now I’m not growing enough lettuce to make extra large salads or anything, but I am able to eat some of what I produce and that is still a win!
• Watching my lettuce grow is a reminder of how beautiful nature is. A little water, sun, and love, and I have a plant that keeps on giving!
• I have a small garden - about 6 containers containing various fruits and veggies. But overtime, as I continue to grow more vegetables and fruit, I will have an opportunity to reduce my plastic waste because I can use more of my own fruits and vegetables and less from the grocery store.

I’m loving this journey, and I encourage you to give it a try!