Growing Romaine Lettuce in Water
Growing Romaine Lettuce in Water is another fun experiment with growing food from scraps that would have been discarded! I had fun trying this, and I made a tasty salad from the freshly-picked Romaine!
PIN Growing Romaine Lettuce to try it later!
A while back I shared Tips for Growing Green Onions, and I heard from quite a few people who had fun experimenting with that. And I enjoy watching things grow and love getting free food, so I thought it would be fun to try Growing Romaine Lettuce in Water for my next kitchen gardening experiment!
For a few years I heard you could grow Romaine in water, similar to the method I use to grow the green onions. I hadn’t seen photos of it, but I decided just to experiment and see what happened! And as you can see from the photo above, it was definitely a success and watching it grow was a lot of fun. This would be fun to do with kids, and I bet they’ll enjoy be more interested in growing lettuce than green onions!
I ate that first batch of Romaine that I grew in a crisp green salad with half a can of tuna and some Ranch Dressing, and it was just enough Romaine for a tasty lunch for one. Keep reading for more details about growing some Romaine Lettuce yourself!
Preparing the Lettuce to Grow Romaine Lettuce in Water:
- I cut the Romaine so I was leaving just enough of the root end that it would stick up above the top of the glass. Leaving that long of a stem may not have been absolutely necessary, but I don’t usually eat that very bottom part of the Romaine head anyway.
- I put the stalk of Romaine in a short glass with about 1 1 /2 inches of water.
- I put it in a sunny window, which I figured would help it grow.
Growing Romaine Lettuce in Water:
- I changed the water and then took a photo of how much the Romaine had grown every two days.
- Even by day two you could see it was going to grow!
- By day six the Romaine was sticking up a couple of inches.
- By day twelve I had bushy leaves of Romaine sticking up about six inches.
- I continued growing the Romaine for a total of twenty days, but you can see by the photos that the growth wasn’t significant for the last few times I took photos.
- After about two weeks the leaves didn’t fill out much more and instead the stems just kept getting longer, so I’m thinking that’s the time to stop and enjoy the Romaine.
- I’m already growing my second crop of Romaine Lettuce, and it seems like something that’s easy to do every time you chop up a head of lettuce to make a salad!
- I’m thinking it would be fun to try other types of leafy lettuce too, although Romaine is the lettuce I buy most regularly.
Ten Favorite Recipes that use Romaine Lettuce:
- Peperoncini Salad with Romaine, Peppers, and Feta
- American Greek Salad with Lettuce
- Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, And Avocado Salad
- Caesar Salad with Kale, Romaine, and Shaved Parmesan
- Asian Green Salad with Soy Sesame Dressing
- Tuna Salad Lettuce Wraps
- Fattoush Lebanese Salad
- Warm Scallop Caesar Salad
- BLT Salad
- Chopped Antipasto Salad
What vegetables or herbs have you grown on the counter?
Have you experimented with growing green onions, Romaine Lettuce, or any other vegetables or herbs on the counter? Tell us what you’ve tried in the comments!
24 Comments on “Growing Romaine Lettuce in Water”
After you’ve “harvested” the lettuce, will the same stem continue to produce or do you get rid of it and start a new one?
The stem will produce again, but never as full and thick as the first time. I think it is more successful to grow one crop them start with new lettuce.
I found I needed to spritz top of the romainw where itnwas getting brown.
I have also been growing carrots with my romaine. I will need to pot them eventually but the green carrot tops are a good sign.
Interesting, that didn’t happen to me. I’m now growing a batch from six heads of Romaine! I love the idea of carrots, would love to hear how that works.
Did you cut off the leaves after 21 days and allow the plant to continue to grow again or discarded the whole plant and started over with a new core?
I haven’t tried cutting off and regrowing again, but I’ve heard you can do it.
How many times can you grow romaine from the same stalk?
We love your recipes and many have become favorites that are made often.
Hi Sue, glad to hear you have been enjoying the recipes. I haven’t tried growing romaine more than once from the same stalk, but I’ve seen other people say you can grow it twice. I buy those six-packs from Costco pretty regularly, so regrowing them once seems like enough to me!
I’ve been growing green onions for a few years and more recently bought an Aerogarden to grow bok choy and lettuce. I have read that you can grow leeks, using a glass as you did the onions and lettuce–that’s on my to-do list. Taking it up a notch, if I can remember to get some hard neck garlic this Fall, I plan to grow garlic scapes!
Leeks would be fun to try because they are so pricey! And I love the idea of growing garlic scapes. I’m currently trying celery; it’s barely starting to grow.
Exactly, leeks ARE pricey, making them of interest to me. If you get to the garlic scapes before I do, please share your success. I am told that the secret is to find hard neck garlic. This is all Greek to me! Thanks, Kalyn! 🙂
If I see hard neck garlic I will definitely buy some. I’ve only bought garlic scapes at the farmers market. I am excited to try leeks though!
I’ve tried regrowing a few things from items I purchased at store too. One was bok choy and it started like your lettuce then also grew a stem. It’s called bolting from too much sunlight. Grew a stem, yellow flower and supposedly will seed. To avoid with my other bok choy plants, I keep it in a well lit area but not direct sunlight. Doing the same with some lettuce. PS I love your recipes!
Thanks Kristal; so glad you’re enjoying the recipes! Bok Choy! I think I will try that, and it’s kind of pricey so it really seems worth growing it. I have my second batch of lettuce in a different window that’s a bit less sunny, so I’ll be interested to see how that impacts the bolting.
I will definitely try this. I grow green onion on my counter all the time. Just take them out of the jar and rinse them and rinse out the jar and add fresh water every few days. With the food situation, it will be great to stretch a lettuce purchase.
Yes, I love getting free food! And it’s fun to watch them grow.
I, too started growing Romaine Lettuce and Celery. I did not look up directions first. Recently, I found out change water 1 – 2 days. Also said you can plant outside , watch the roots and about 30 days. I want to try Beets next. I did not keep a date on when I started. Not sure how to include pictures. I love watching them grow.
Opal
I just started some celery. I just had a fairly old stalk of celery that had been in the fridge, so we’ll see how it goes.
Thanks for the inspiration today! Great photos!
I love this concept of getting free food!
It’s the best isn’t it? So glad you like the idea!
What a kick, Kalyn! Can’t wait to try it. Love the progression photos.
Thanks Carolyn, it was definitely fun watching it grow! Hope you are doing well and staying safe!
I’m definitely going try this. I usually throw that part of the head away. Thank for the fun and useful tip!
Glad you like it! I always throw that part away too, so I thought why not grow a little more free lettuce! Have fun.