Gardening with Newton Community Farm June 23, 2020 Cut-and-Come-Again Harvesting

Cut-and-come-again harvesting is a term for removing the older, outer leaves of leafy green vegetable plants and allowing the center of the plant to continue to send out new leaves. With this method, you can harvest just what you need for one meal or until your next harvest. It's an easy way to have a succession of harvests without having to continuously plant new seeds or transplants. It also means that your greens will always be fresh. The opposite of this method would be a one-time-harvest crop, such as head lettuce, which you cut once for a singular harvest.

The trick to stimulating your cut-and-come-again plants is to begin harvesting the oldest leaves – the leaves on the outside of the plant – while they are still young and tender rather than waiting for them to reach mature length. Cut-and-come-again plants will thrive longer and produce more food if they are never given the chance to mature and go to seed. Harvesting leaves when they are young also helps to cut the bitterness of certain crops, like mustard greens. It's a win-win all around! Here are a few examples of cut-and-come-again crops for your garden. Each of these crops can be harvested repeatedly while they continue to produce new growth. Kale Swiss Chard Arugula Spinach Mustard Greens Basil Cilantro Happy growing!

Gardening Help

Check out "Gardening with Hope" on our YouTube channel for new episodes available every Wednesday at 1 pm. This week, we'll dive deeper into cut-and-come-again harvesting methods. View our channel anytime to see our show archive. For any gardening questions, email hope@newtoncommunityfarm.org We love when our community members share photos of their gardens with us, so send in your updates to our team! Also, if you know a gardener who might like to receive our emails, contact jay@newtoncommunityfarm.org to be added to our email list.

Where to Find Our Produce

Looking for fresh veggies from Newton Community Farm to supplement your garden harvest? Check out these options.

Our new Healthy Harvest Bags are off to a great start! Pre-order this week's bag of fresh, local produce from our online store and arrange for pickup at the farm on Friday afternoon. Sorry, no substitutions are possible. Quantities are limited, so order soon before we sell out for the week! Check back each week to see what we have available!

This week's bag (for pickup on June 26) : Lettuce Peas Garlic Scapes Cucumber Zucchini or Summer Squash Bunched Greens Chives Fresh Herbs Radishes Salad Turnips Price: $25

We love seeing old friends and making new ones at the Newton Farmers' Market, so come visit us on Saturdays, 9 am - 1 pm. The market is at Newton South High School this year. For more details and market guidelines, visit the city's website .

Support the Farm!

NEWTON COMMUNITY FARM 303 Nahanton Street Newton, MA 02459 617-916-9655 www.newtoncommunityfarm.org information@newtoncommunityfarm.org

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