Growing cut and come again salad

[SereneHighnessPrincessTheresa]

I want to grow salad as I eat loads in the summer. I have some trays about 10cm deep, compost and some seeds. Is it really as simple as that? I can put it facing any direction so what would be ideal? Also how often should I water?

Any tips welcome TIA

You need to cat proof where you grow it as cats may toilet on it.

Out of direct sun, to prevent bolting.

Sow the seeds on the surface, or a tiny bit of sieved compost on top- don't bury them.

As pp said they are prone to bolting which happens more quickly if hot and dry. Shade and regular watering.

You can also do pea shoots:

buy a cheap bag of dried marrowfat peas (from the whole foods/packets part of a supermarket, not a garden centre) and chuck a handful into a plastic box (we use whatever recycling is going out that week) cover with a thin layer of soil and water, leave on the windowsil and in a week you'll have a tray of pea shoots. Cut them above the first set of leaves and they will come back for round 2 in another week. (You might get a 3rd cut if you're lucky) Then compost and start again with another tray. You can do this all year, plant up a tray every other day or so and you'll never need to buy salad again. (1 bag of peas lasts ages)

Oh good suggestion, works brilliantly.
Although not so well when you order them in your online shop and they're substituted with tinned ones 😂

This has reminded me of a funny story: My DH who was in his 60s went into a local (posh) bakery as his mum asked him to get some cake. She suggested 'cut and come again' cake. The assistant was about 16, maybe a Saturday girl and having never heard of it asked him to repeat it and then got scared thinking he was being rude and suggestive, and called the manager over. He couldn't get out quick enough and had to go into another baker and just pointed to the first cake he saw, paid and left. Glad to see the expression is still in use albeit in gardening and not necessarily baked goods!😊

Put them out of direct sun but somewhere the slugs can't get to them.

Ours are currently growing in pots on the shed roof. Everything else has been demolished.

But then the slugs have even stripped my roses this year. WTF.

If you google “cut and come again cake” there’s loads of recipes. Sadly, they don’t have the regenerative properties of “cut and come again” salads.

I grew mixed lettuce last year, it was lovely and kept me in salads for about two and a half months. Haven’t been able to plant any yet due to upheaval so buying rubbish from supermarkets. Go for it.

Oh, and lots of watering. I watered mine every day. But then I do all my plants which is why they do so well.

You need loads though. I grow cut and come again and pea shoots in green veg crates (like the ones Tesco transport veg in). But I easily eat more than I produce. A Chinese couple I'm friends with took me round their garden, they have long raised beds full of Asian leaves and grow them in rotation. I aspire to this.

@MereDintofPandiculation Yes but unfortunately younger generations haven't heard of it. Regenerative cake would be great!

We’re in an odd position re cake. Cake mustn’t form part of a normal diet because it’s full of sugar and fat, but if we do eat it, it has to be with half its own weight of butter cream. So all the “plainish” cakes of the past are disappearing.

”Cut and come again” must be anathema to the purveyor of cakes. “Throw away on day three because it’s stale and buy another one” is much more like it.

My advice to grow cut and come again salads is to buy a living salad and separate it into small blocks and replant it into a trough or larger pots.

Also buy a packet of seeds and sow now so that you have that when the original is done. And resow until August.

My advice to grow cut and come again salads is to buy a living salad and separate it into small blocks and replant it into a trough or larger pots
This is what I do too, you get lots more for your money.

<googles cut and come again cake>