Easy Early Lettuce

Last year, we discovered a technique which makes growing Lettuce easy, especially early in the Spring. We claim no credit for this. We just watched what was going on "in Nature" and we followed Her lead.

We watched Lettuce "go to seed", reproduce, and come up with another round of gorgeous Lettuce. Some People would scoff at such gardening. In their view, such practices are "not clean gardening". In their practice, every bit of Plant Material which is beyond maturity of Food Crop and outside the rigid straight line rows is removed. Obsession with such practices is common in our Culture. They may please some of the Human Family but is outside the Rhythm and Flow of Nature. When we watched Nature doing her Thing, we had results that surprised us and results we wanted to repeat.

So last Fall, we just let the Heirloom Varieties of Lettuce go to seed. And we let those Seeds fall upon the ground where they may. Some folks might have thought this unsightly, but we were going "Tee hee hee." Our thinking was that the Seeds would germinate well before we Humans could get into the Garden (or even off our Winter Couch, for that matter). And, fortunately, our thinking was "spot on". Now we have some amazing Lettuce Plants coming up in the Garden even before we have planted any Seeds. Nature did it for us. "Thank you, Mother."

I checked into Suzanne Ashworth's discussion of Lettuce Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners (2002, pages 89-91). She calls Lettuce an "inbreeding plant". Some gardeners believe varieties do not cross pollinate; others report up to 5% crossing if grown side by side.

Apparently, differences in flower characteristics greatly influence the chance of crossing. Did you know that some Lettuce Flowers open for only 30 minutes? Wow, I surely have missed a lot of their blooms. I promise to note them more closely this year. Distancing varieties will be important. Caging may be important to the purist.

By the way, if you are a Seed Saver, this book is an excellent resource. You may want a copy or at the very least suggest it to your public library. I wonder if the Adair County Library has it on the shelves?

In the meantime, we should be having some Lettuce in the next 10 days to 2 weeks. Yum. And we haven't planted a Seed in the Garden yet.

In case you are interested, the Straw was used as covering for the Garden over the Winter Season. It was excellent protection for the Soil. Plus, it will biodegrade as organic material and tilth. This is another practice that we will be continuing.