Cut ’n’ Come again is a great growing project for a child. They can partially destroy a pot of leaves and it doesn’t matter. The leaves will comeback in a couple of weeks when they can do it all again.
Growing Cut ‘n’ Come Again Salad Leaves with Children
These are perfect to get your children munching throughout the summer and the rest of the year.
- Plant Out: Early spring onwards.
- Harvest: Within 4 weeks.
- Where to plant: In a container indoors, larger container outdoors, in a growbag or in the ground.
- What to sow: Seeds.
- Latest sowing time: End of September.
With salad leaves It is easy for your children to sow seeds into your choosen location. Check out our growing crops in pots information. About a tablespoon of seeds should be fine for a large pot. Cover with a fine layer of compost and water, and then water regularly.
When the leaves are 10-15cm you can cut them down to 4-5cm. If your children are quite young you may wish to get them just to pull off the outer leaves. Take off as much as you need for a meal. You should get at least two full salad sized bags full from each cut and get at least three full cuts. If the plants start to look pale and weak give them a liquid feed. Start off another pot when you make the second cut to ensure a continuous supply throughout the summer. If your grow indoors then you can grow all year around. Oriental varieties work best for winter use – sow in September and they’ll last you until March.
Use Salad: If you children are reluctant to eat salad then growing it might help. A little in a sandwich with other ingredients is a start.
Pea Shoots
Growing pea shoots with your children will bring a whole new meaning to ‘easy peasy’. They can be grown as a cut ‘n’ come again vegetable. They are a low maintenance salad crop that can last you months and are full of vitamins K, C and A. They have 7 times more vitamin C than blueberries.
- Plant Out: early spring onwards.
- Harvest: Within 3 weeks.
- Where to plant: In a container indoors, larger container (30cm plus) or outdoors.
- What to sow: Pea seeds.
- Latest sowing time: End of July.
Growing peas just for shoots is a quick way to grow fresh veg. You use the same pea seeds as if growing peas. Pea shoots are the leaves, stem, tendrils and sometimes small flower buds from the young pea plant. All are edible.
Choose varieties suited for this purpose such as Oregon Sugar Pod or Sugar Snap Cascadia.
You plant them exactly the same as if growing peas, except you can plant them closer together. Plant 2 cms deep 5cms apart in multi-purpose compost. Water and, if growing indoors, leave on window sill. If growing outdoors leave under protection or in a warm spot. Start harvesting when plants are 15 to 20 cms tall. Two or three cuts of shoots are taken from each batch of seeds every three to four weeks – clip the top 5 to 10 cms of each plant. Keep harvesting until shoots taste bitter, late in the growing season. If you forget to cut then the shoots will start to grow into full plants with pea pods.
Sow new containers every couple of weeks to ensure you have a continuous supply of shoots. You could even have a little window box of cut ‘n’ come again pea shoots on the kitchen windowsill for quick meal.
Use pea shoots: in salads or lightly steamed as a hot vegetable.
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