Knowing when to plant your seeds can be one of the trickier parts of gardening.
Unfortunately, one TikTok user found this out the hard way. But thanks to that experience, we're all getting an amazing trick for planting lettuce at the "right" time.
The scoop
In a recent video, Sabrina (@sabrina.sustainable.life) shared how she discovered "succession planting" after making an understandable gardening mistake.
@sabrina.sustainable.life #successionplanting is a great way to extend your harvest 🥬 #gardeningtip #gardening101 #beginnergardener #garden #gardeninghacks #vegetablegarden #ecotok #growfood #gardening ♬ original sound - darcy stokes
"I put all of my seeds in the ground like this lettuce at the same time, so once it was ready, I ended up way too much lettuce for just a household of two," Sabrina said in the clip. "Instead, I wish I would have done 'succession planting.' This is when you space out the dates you plant so you have a harvest all season long."
Sabrina clarified that she didn't let her excess lettuce go to waste — she harvested it all and used it to make a large salad at a family gathering.
"This was just a learning lesson for the future," she added.
Experts recommend seeding crops between seven to 21 days apart to maximize the consistency and usability of the harvest. It's also a good idea to replace one crop with another, instead of planting the same crop over and over again.
How it's helping
Succession planting can help reduce waste and save money. Growing your own produce can cut down on your grocery bill, but it's all for naught if you end up throwing away your harvest because you grew too much. With succession planting, you get the most bang for your buck by maximizing the amount of your harvest that you can actually eat.
Gardening — including succession planting — helps improve the quality of our air and soil by reducing the amount of carbon gas in the atmosphere and binding the soil together.
Growing some of your own food also helps reduce your carbon footprint by decreasing the number of imported goods you consume, which means that you're cutting down on purchasing items that require transportation from atmosphere-polluting vehicles.
What everyone's saying
Users were enthusiastic about Sabrina's gardening tip.
"Lettuce is great with the cut and come again method!" one viewer commented.
"No mistakes just learning experiences. Happy gardening it's a way of life," another said.
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