Gardeners urged to make simple cutting change to lettuce so it grows all summer

is a popular choice of plant for gardeners across the country, thanks to its versatility, quick growth, and green, lush leaves. Instead of having to buy bags of the vegetable from , you can grow it yourself to make fresh, , or as an addition to sandwiches, burgers, and a whole range of delicious meals.

However, if you have noticed your surviving and you want them to last longer, there are some simple steps you need to follow, a expert has explained.

Nicole Johnsey Burke, known to her more than 477,000 as @gardenary, revealed that the key to long-lasting lettuce plants is down to how you harvest them. She explained that one thing you should never do is take the entire plant and cut it at the base.

By doing this, you are cutting off the potential for more harvests, she warned. “Instead, you want to start at the outside and lower leaves of the plant and harvest a few leaves from each and every plant. Lettuce plants continue to grow from the centre of the plant,” Burke said.

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If you cut the outside leaves instead of the centre, you will end up with “three or four times the harvest from each and every plant”, she told followers. The gardener’s other tip for healthy and vibrant lettuce was to grow it next to oregano, chives, and flowers.

Lettuces are best sown regularly in small batches as this will provide continuous batches and ensure you avoid gluts. While lettuces are easy to grow, they will need protection from slugs and snails and hot, dry weather can trigger premature flowering, the Royal Horticultural Society explained.

As this leads to the leaves turning bitter, it suggested keeping the lettuces well-watered and lightly shaded in summer months, adding: “Re-sow regularly so you always have replacements on hand.”

Lettuce seeds can be sown inside or outside and in containers or in the ground, which makes them a versatile plant, loved by many different types of gardeners. As they don’t take up much space, they are also useful for filling in spare space on plots.

If you want to harvest your lettuces in the summer or autumn, you should sow from late-March to late-July outdoors - and for winter harvests, make sure to sow outdoors in early August before covering the plants with cloches from late September onwards. For spring harvests, you should sow a winter variety in September or October, either in a greenhouse or in mild areas under cloches, the RHS advised.

Lettuce seedlings should be watered regularly in warm, dry weather, and you should aim to keep the soil “consistently” moist to avoid the risk of bolting, which would ruin the crop. The ideal time to water the plants is early in the morning as this will set them up for the day - and watering in the evening can attract slugs and snails overnight, and make your lettuces susceptible to fungal diseases like grey mould.