Gadenin日本語Get the appStart cutting sooner than you think
The first harvest comes around four to six weeks after sowing in real heat, when the shoots are twelve inches (30 cm) long and the stems are still soft enough to snap. Do not wait for a bigger plant. Stems that have gone stiff enough to bend rather than snap are past their best, and the leaves on them have already lost their tenderness.
The snap test is the only judgement you need. Hold a stem and bend it. If it breaks cleanly with a wet crack, it is prime. If it folds, bends or peels a string, that section is too old, and you should be cutting higher up the shoot. Do this at the plant rather than in the kitchen so you cut in the right place first time.
Harvest in the morning, before the sun has been on the plant for long. The hollow stems hold their water then and the leaves stay crisp for a day or two in the fridge. Cut in the afternoon heat and the whole armful is limp before you reach the door.
Cut above two nodes, every time
The rule that governs everything: leave at least two leaf nodes on the shoot you cut, and make the cut a quarter inch (5 mm) above the higher of them. Those two nodes carry the buds that give you the next crop. Cut below them and that shoot is finished; the plant has to start a new one from the base, which costs you two or three weeks.
In practice that means cutting six to eight inches (15 to 20 cm) above the soil on a first harvest, and a little higher on each subsequent cut as the standing framework builds up. Use scissors or a knife rather than pulling, because tugging a wet hollow stem rips the node open and lets rot in.
Do not strip the whole plant in one go. Take about two thirds of the shoots and leave the rest, especially the shorter ones, to keep the plant powered. A completely stripped plant in hot weather sulks for a fortnight; a plant left with a third of its leaf area is back in seven to ten days.
| Where you cut | What the plant does | Days to next cut |
|---|---|---|
| Above two nodes, 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) up | Breaks two or three new side shoots | 7 to 14 days in real heat |
| Above one node only | One weak shoot, slow away | About 3 weeks |
| Flush with the ground | Must rebuild from the crown, if at all | 3 to 4 weeks or never |
| Pulled rather than cut | Torn node rots back down the stem | That shoot is lost |
Keep it going all season
A well-fed plant in hot weather gives six to ten cuts across a season. The pattern is a rhythm rather than a single event: cut, feed, water, wait ten days, cut again. Skip the feed and the third cut is visibly thinner than the second; skip it twice and the plant is finished by midsummer.
- Cut in the morning Take shoots while they are turgid, before the heat. Drop them straight into a bowl of cold water rather than leaving them lying in the sun on the path.
- Leave two nodes standing Cut a quarter inch (5 mm) above the second node from the base of that shoot. Check what you have left behind as you go, because it is easy to drift lower and lower down the plant across a long harvest.
- Take two thirds, not all Leave the shortest third of the shoots uncut so the plant keeps enough working leaf. This is the difference between a ten-day and a three-week regrowth interval.
- Feed within a day Water in a half-strength high-nitrogen liquid feed after every cut, or scatter blood meal after every second cut in a bed. Cutting exports nitrogen and the plant will tell you within two cuts if you are not replacing it.
- Clear and contain every scrap Gather up dropped stems and leaves from the path and the bed edge. Wet fragments root readily. Bin them or bury them deep in an active heap; never leave them where water moves.
In the kitchen, and in the notebook
The stems and leaves cook at different rates. Separate them as you prepare: cut the hollow stems into two-inch (5 cm) lengths and give them a minute in the pan before the leaves go in, so the stems keep some bite while the leaves are just wilted. Overcooked, the whole thing collapses into a slimy mass, which is what puts people off it. Young tips are good raw in salads.
It keeps badly. Wrapped loosely in a damp cloth in the fridge it holds two days, three at the outside. Blanch and freeze anything you cannot eat, or simply cut less at a time; the plant is happy being harvested twice a week.
Write down the date of every cut, the weight or a rough armful count, and how many days elapsed since the previous one. Across one season those figures tell you your true yield per plant and the exact interval your climate supports, and next spring you will know whether four plants or twelve is the right number for your household.