How do you know when to pick your vegetables out of the garden?

Question

i planted an itailian salad mix in my garden i didnt think it would do anything but now there is a ton of it and i dont have a clue what i have to pick and when.please help!

Answer 1

Since you have different types of lettuce you pick the leave from the outside. Since you haven't started and you've gotten a lot already you can pick down to some of the smaller leaves I don't know how many plants you have. Throw out any that have been chewed by bugs and bring in the rest. If some leaves are really big you can break those up. If you planted romaine lettuce you can cut the whole plant at the bottom and bring it in. Wash everything with plain water and dry it with paper towels or a salad spinner and put up in plastic bags and share what you can't use with friends and neighbors. You can either pick (cut off) the lettuce plants at ground level or break the outside leaves off for continuous production the rest of the summer. If you've planted something besides lettuce, pull it up from the ground, cut or pick it off the plant when it looks like something they sell at the store. You can also pick one and taste it and if it's ok pick some more. Do this every couple of days.