I love growing lettuces, kale, spinach and aruluga in my vegatable garden. Almost instant gratification for harvest and they look so beautiful growing. But I always have more than I can keep up with and I spend hours a week washing lettuce leaves. I give some away and am looking into donating some to shelters. One thing I learned this year ... don't use grass clippings for mulch. The grass sticks to each leave and it takes for ever to clean off. Anyone know a short cut for cleaning greens?

The only one I know is the commercial salad spinners. They make quick work of washing and drying leaves. I hope others have some good ideas.

You already have the answer - select the correct mulch. With the right mulch the leaves will stay cleaner and require less washing.

We cut our lettuce and do three rinses in a large basin (size of a dishpan), the used water is returned to the garden. Then into the kitchen for one final rinse. Salad spinner** removes the excess water, then pop them onto a flour sack dish towel and chill in the fridge.

Talk to the shelter and ask for one volunteer to come to your house and pick up the lettuce before you wash it. Let the shelter volunteers wash the lettuce.

**Note: I don't actually own a salad spinner; I hold the 4 ends of the dish towel and spin it over my head like a cowboy at a rodeo - my neighbors think I am insane but the dragonflies enjoy taking a shower when I do this.

I love your strategies and ideas, greene. I had never heard of storing lettuce or drying lettuce in flower sack towels. I must try this.
BTW, I do know how to spell lettuce, but my typing is sloppy.

Flour sack towels are a good item to have in the kitchen. They are larger than regular dish towels. Yes you can dry dishes with them and they are lintless, but you can also strain jelly, make cheese, wrap fresh bread, and keep lettuce in the fridge.

Outside the kitchen they are good for extra large bandannas to wrap your head so biting flies don't attack your head, bib for baby or an old person like me (very sloppy eater), use one as a baby diaper in an emergency, make a sling for a hurt arm, roll one up and tie onto your dog as a temporary collar (add cedar, lemongrass, orange, lavender oils to keep fleas away), someone please stop me...I could do this all day.

Use the keywords 'DIY flour sack lettuce bag' to see how others use the towels. Great gift ideas for the gardeners on your list.

I've worn out many around the house before and am down to a couple of old grandma embroidered ones. I will get more and expand think outside the box. Thanks.

@greene you should post that one you wrote above Teri's as a 'Garden Idea'. Everyone on the site will then post their ideas as to how to use flour sack towels.

I really like the salad spinning idea. What a mental image you painted.

Btw, Teri when they get old and worn, you can tear them up and put pieces in the bottom of flower pots to keep the soil from running out the drain hole.

Love it!

That's a good suggerstion @dyzzypyxxy, but since @IowaTeri is the new kid around here and since it was her lettuse...um, lettuce question that sparked the idea for my response, why not have IowaTeri start the Flour Sack Towel Idea and we can all chime in the comment section.

By the way, if you don't have a flour sack towel to spin over your head like a crazy woman a mesh wash bag, like the kind for delicate laundry also works.

I am the new kid and am learning the site a few minutes at a time. So far, enjoying very much. Hope to figure out the acorns, icons and antics as I go. I did give Greene three acorns. I'll figure out what that means later. I just posted a request for a plant ID on another string if you'd like to check it out for me.
Meanwhile, so happy to have plans for lettuce cleaning. I spent 3 hours cleaning lettuce yesterday.