Planting and harvesting your very own vegetable garden doesn't have to be expensive. In fact, if you decide to grow certain varieties of lettuce and leafy greens, you may be able to unlock a gardening hack that'll yield a limitless supply of food. 

The scoop

To demonstrate the hack, home gardener and TikToker Charise Yvonne (@chariseyvonne) shared a lengthy video that went into great detail about how to harvest lettuce seeds from a bolted plant. 

@chariseyvonne And we have SEEDS!! This is how you tap into what I call the infinite food glitch. 🤭 Saving the seeds allows you to keep growing year after year. Most bolting plants house their seeds in the spent buds. By gently removing the old bud, you can collect an insane amount of seeds allowing you to share the wealth and continue to grow your own food. What seeds have you collected so far? Follow me on YouTube: @CharAtHome Facebook: Charise Yvonne #garden #gardening #grow #backyard #gardentok #food #seeds #harvest ♬ growth - Gede Yudis

"I keep saying infinite food glitch because this is what happens," the creator said. In the video, they headed out to their garden to inspect a lettuce plant that had bolted and started to produce several flowers that were in various stages of blooming. 

After retrieving one flower that had browned and withered, they opened it up to reveal 23 seeds. "One seed. One flower. Twenty-three more plants," the home gardener added.

You can collect seeds from a number of lettuce varieties by picking the flower heads as they ripen. Dry them, break open the flower heads, and separate the seeds. You can then store the seeds until you are ready to plant. You may even be able to repeat this process several times throughout a growing season, as long as the conditions are favorable and the seeds are intact.

How it's helping

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the average price of one pound of romaine lettuce is just under $3 in the United States. In comparison, you can also expect to pay around $3 for a pack of roughly 300 romaine lettuce seeds at a garden center. 

As noted in the post, just one bolted lettuce plant can yield many flower blooms, resulting in a couple of dozen seeds of your own. Not only can you quickly get your money back from your investment, but you'll be able to exploit the infinite food glitch as well. 

Besides saving money on produce, you'll cultivate better tasting food. Since food grown at home is usually harvested and placed on the dinner table in a short amount of time, it can offer more flavor and nutrients. As a bonus, home gardening can improve air and soil quality, reduce food production-related pollution, and promote sustainability.

What everyone's saying

In the comments section, one user offered an additional tip for the creator that also might come in handy for you. 

"So exciting!! And then if you wait till the LAST lettuce bolts and collect just THOSE seeds, they will be the most heat tolerant!" they suggested. 

"Oooh! That's good to know because Texas heat is brutal!" Charise Yvonne replied.

Would you take a gardening class if it were free? Heck yes! 💯 If it fits into my schedule 🗓️ Maybe 🤔 Probably not 👎 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

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