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I Love Lettuce

January 19th, 2011

I’ve been sorting through all of my seeds and entering them all into a database where I can keep track of seeding dates, germination, notes about harvest and flavor. I must say that I’ve acquired quite an assortment of seeds over the past couple years. I have a few varieties of many different things like broccoli and cabbage. I thought tomatoes would take the prize for most variety of seeds with about 20 different kinds in my box. But, I was surprised to see that lettuce/greens took the prize, I actually have 3 folders full of lettuce, spinach and other greens.

I do love lettuce and who can resist all the lovely colors and shapes in the seed catalogs. I do grow a lot of lettuce and greens each spring and fall, and we do eat a lot of salads. Lettuce is a great vegetable to grow yourself because it doesn’t take up much space, it matures quickly, is pretty adaptable to most kinds of soil and can be grown easily in pots. The seeds germinate easily and grow quickly, so it’s a perfect thing for first time seed starters and gardeners. Even though I have tons of lettuce seeds in my collection I’ll still be adding a few more this year, including that ‘Roxy’ lettuce I bought at my local farmer’s market and loved.

The varieties in my seed box:
Arugula – regular
Arugula – wild
Arugula – ‘Even Star Winter’
Kale – ‘Lacinato’
Kale – ‘Lacinato Rainbow Mix’
Kale – ‘Red Russian’
Spinach – ‘Winter Bloomsdale’
Spinach – ‘Catalina’
Spinach – ‘Bloomsdale Longstanding’
Spinach – ‘Tyee’
Spinach – ‘Giant Winter’
Swiss Chard – ‘Multicolor Bright Lights’
Lettuce – ‘Rocky Top’
Lettuce – ‘Black Seeded Simpson’
Lettuce – ‘Red Sails’
Lettuce – ‘Simpson Elite’
Lettuce – ‘Jericho Romaine’
Lettuce – ‘Rouge Grenobloise’
Lettuce – ‘Sanquine Ameliore’
Lettuce – ‘Sea of Red’
Lettuce – ‘Little Gem’
Lettuce – ‘De Morges Braun’
Lettuce – ‘Brune D’Hiver’
Lettuce – ‘Winter Density’
Lettuce – ‘Seed Savers Mini Lettuce Mix’
Lettuce – ‘Sweetie Baby Romaine’
Greens – ‘Green Malabar’ Spinach
Greens – ‘New Zealand’ Spinach
Greens – ‘Scarlet Frills’ Mustard
Greens – ‘Fall Mix from Sand Hill’
Greens – Green Curled Endive
Greens – Minutina
Greens – ‘Tendergreen’ Mustard
Greens – Mache, corn salad

It would be hard for me to choose one type of lettuce or green to grow. I would have a really hard time deciding between spinach and arugula. I think arugula would probably win if push came to shove. There’s just something wonderful about this lovely green. It’s spicy and delicious and makes a wonderful salad, pesto and a killer BLT.

It’s also quite beautiful and ornamental when you let it go to seed. And a huge bonus for me is that the deer and ground hogs won’t eat it, so I don’t have to worry about protecting it.

I’ve always wanted to make an ornamental lettuce bed in one of my raised beds. I think this spring I’ll grow 4-5 different colors and shapes of lettuces and put them in a decorative arrangements. The only problem with that is then I’ll end up with a lot of mature lettuce to eat, I guess we’ll be eating lots of salad!

What kind of seeds do have the most varieties of?

15 Comments to “I Love Lettuce”
  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mark mile, Susy Morris. Susy Morris said: I Love Lettuce http://goo.gl/fb/hJ7EI #uncategorized […]

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  2. Nebraska Dave on January 19, 2011 at 8:32 am

    I’m going to try growing lettuce for the first time ever in my gardening experiences. I’ve never had the space to grow a salad garden. I’ve always been more interested in tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and cucumbers. I expanded my garden by two raised beds and have a spot now for lettuce, radishes, carrots, and dill weed. It will be a wonderful year.

    Have a great green salad day.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  3. Amy W. on January 19, 2011 at 9:52 am

    My Dad has grown lettuce, spinach, cabbage, etc.

    Amy

    Reply to Amy W.'s comment

  4. MAYBELLINE on January 19, 2011 at 10:29 am

    I have no clue and don’t want to count.
    I do know that I bow in your direction for your superior organizational skills. Plus, you have collected waaaaaay more seeds than me.

    Reply to MAYBELLINE's comment

  5. Seren Dippity on January 19, 2011 at 11:03 am

    I got a bit carried away planting lettuce this fall. I can grow lettuce all winter with a cover over my bed for the coldest nights. But as much as I love salads, I do find we eat less of them in the winter. If only there were a way to have this excess through the summer. My lettuce bolts by June… just as my tomatoes are coming into their own. I purchased a new variety called Jericho that was developed to grow in the Middle East. I’m hoping that one will be heat tolerant enough.

    I’m dragging a bit on seed starting. I started on tomatoes yesterday, which is my most critical. I need them big and healthy to get them in the ground asap in March.

    As for a gardening database, do you not like MyFolia.com? I know you are a member there. I love their seed stash database and journaling system. They are constantly making upgrades to the site; they now have harvest tallies and a yearly garden review report. Anyway, I find them much easier to use than maintaining a database on my own.

    Reply to Seren Dippity's comment

    • Susy on January 19, 2011 at 11:39 am

      I tried MyFolia, but I’d rather have it on my computer where I can more easily enter dates for sowing/germination/harvest. I like the search features and the export features of a spreadsheet as well. I’m hoping to incorporate a list of all my seed/plants on ChiotsRun 2.0 so this will make it much easier to include that.

      You should try New Zealand or Green Malabar spinach, both are a tropical plant that tastes like spinach and LOVES the heat. Unfortunately my plants all go eaten by rabbits last year so I can’t tell you about the taste.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  6. alecia on January 19, 2011 at 11:52 am

    tomato seeds win here

    thanks for the info on the nz and green mal. spinach= will try- growing a winter variety gigante something for next fall/winter.

    Reply to alecia's comment

  7. annie on January 19, 2011 at 11:58 am

    Interesting question. I had to look and the answer (at the moment) is: Legumes (although if we segregate beans and peas the answer is non-lettuce greens). But these are just last years seeds. I’m about to get a large order for this year so the winner will be different (probably some kind of Solanaceae).

    I like the idea of putting a seed inventory on the blog. I think I’ll borrow your it. I love talking about seeds and it would be fun to get into a conversation about them with my readers.

    Reply to annie's comment

  8. Morgan G on January 19, 2011 at 12:43 pm

    My roommate and I started seed yesterday, so it was a great way to take stock of what we’ve got. We have mostly leafy greens as well, because we use them so often in the kitchen. All of our lettuce varieties were successful last year, but we had only one variety of spinach and it didn’t do so well. If anyone has a recommendation for spinach seed for zone 9-10, please pass along. Thanks!

    Reply to Morgan G's comment

    • Susy on January 19, 2011 at 1:23 pm

      I’ve always had great luck with ‘Bloomsdale Longstanding’ Spinach and this past year I grew ‘Catalina’ from Renee’s Garden and it was fab! It may have been the seed you got, I had a pack of spinach seeds once that just didn’t do well, I know it was the seed because I had grown the variety before with seeds from another company.

      Reply to Susy's comment

      • Morgan G on January 21, 2011 at 2:52 pm

        Thanks, Susy! I like Renee’s Garden; I’ll try the Catalina.

        to Morgan G's comment

  9. Lynda on January 19, 2011 at 1:11 pm

    Oh my goodness…you do have lots of lettuces…I have just about as many melons: cantaloupe, honeydew, musk and watermelon…about 30 different kinds…and I’m really not crazy about melons!

    Reply to Lynda's comment

  10. Daedre Craig on January 19, 2011 at 1:17 pm

    Definitely tomatoes. I have 19 varieties in my seed stash and I grew all 19 varieties last year! I’ll be ordering 3 or 4 more varieties in the next couple weeks. If you count all the different lettuces in lettuce seed mixes, I probably have 12-15 different lettuces too!

    You can never have too many kinds of any one vegetable…

    Reply to Daedre Craig's comment

  11. louisa @ TheReallyGoodLife on January 20, 2011 at 1:10 pm

    And I thought I had a lot of types of lettuce!

    I’ve got a couple of types of kale, some spinach, chard and pak choi, and about eight different packs of lettuce – but my stash looks like a monoculture compared to you ;)

    When I went through my seed box the other day, I found I had three types of butternut squash and four types of pumpkin – which is somewhat excessive given the size of my garden! I think I’ll grow just a few of each, and see what works best for future reference.

    Reply to louisa @ TheReallyGoodLife's comment

  12. Kellee on January 22, 2011 at 6:20 pm

    Mmmmm! I love a good salad, and a straight from the garden BLT, with a nice juicy tomatoe and lettuce.

    I also love going to Local Roots!! Such a great place!

    Hope your staying warm in this lovely weather!

    Reply to Kellee's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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