HELP! I can't pick the lettuce seeds I want to order!

[ninnymary]

There are so many beautiful lettuces out there. The ones that I love are the spotted trout romaine and rosy lettuces.

Mary

 

[catjac1975]

Have you considered getting a mix of lettuce seeds? I did a quick look at Burpee and they have a few different mixes. I did not check any other seed companies but there should be some out there. That at least avoids having to buy several different packets which would give you a lot of wasted seeds. You could get a mesclun, but that mix will have rocket, arugula, rucola, rucoli, rugula, colewort, or roquette, whatever you call that stuff. It's too strong for my taste but you might like it. It tends to take over too.

Lettuce seeds last for years and years with no special care. Buy a few favorites every year to add to your collection. I do this for tomatoes too.

 

[digitS']

Buttercrunch is a good choice. DW essentially insists on that one. I don't really know why. Lettuce nearly always is just a sandwich ingredient for her.

I am not sure if I was really willing to eat lettuce until I had it wilted in a cast iron pan with bacon fat. It must have been often in my sandwiches but eating it with only that "dressing" of bacon fat made for a great "salad" - I thought at about age 19 or 20.

Of course, I still like lettuce that way.

Steve

 

[ninnymary]

I need to try that lettuce in bacon fat since some of you are raving about it!

Mary

 

[ChickenMomma91]

I could get a mix I honestly haven't even looked at them. I was mostly gonna use a large removable hoop house for the fall/winter for a bed of greens with spinach, a couple lettuces and some carrots and beets and rotate it around every year. Plus carrots and beets being biennial its a good way to get a head start on saving some seed before I run out. I'm trying really hard to be more sufficient and sustainable in the garden so I'd let some of the lettuce go to seed as well. I'll look at those mixes and get back to y'all

 

[ChickenMomma91]

So I looked at my territorial catalog that came in the mail Monday and i'm still tied between two...
there's the London Springs Lettuce Mix which has 5 varieties that are all very pretty and the Wild Garden Lettuce Mix bred by Frank Morton and has dozens of varieties that most of which are unnamed and only in this blend so if I liked a particular one I would have to let it bolt and keep it off to one side and make my own name gotta get the hub's opinion of course, he loves his BLT sandwiches so growing lettuce just makes those yummier when combined with home grown maters!

 

[Nyboy]

BLT

 

[catjac1975]

So I looked at my territorial catalog that came in the mail Monday and i'm still tied between two...
there's the London Springs Lettuce Mix which has 5 varieties that are all very pretty and the Wild Garden Lettuce Mix bred by Frank Morton and has dozens of varieties that most of which are unnamed and only in this blend so if I liked a particular one I would have to let it bolt and keep it off to one side and make my own name gotta get the hub's opinion of course, he loves his BLT sandwiches so growing lettuce just makes those yummier when combined with home grown maters!

The mixes are really nice. They are all leaf lettuces. So you should also include a head lettuce.

 

[Beekissed]

Nothing better than butter crunch and any red leafed variety.

There are so many beautiful lettuces out there. The ones that I love are the spotted trout romaine and rosy lettuces.

Mary

I'm with these ladies! I love a red leafed lettuce and also the buttercrunch...even the name of that variety makes me hungry! I don't plant many leaf lettuces anymore, though they grow best and quickest for me...they just don't have the oomph that romaines, buttercrunch and even spinach has. Just too light weight and airy for my kind of salads.

Most that I have ordered this year were romaine...
Winter Density

Parris Island

Jericho

Winter Wonderland
(No pic available)
Forellenschluss

.

I also ordered some Shuko Pac Choy for even more crunch to the salads.

Most of my greens were chosen for their ability to be grown/harvested for winter crops, as I really want to move into a four season harvest in my garden this year. I'm leaving room this year for seeding these lettuces and other greens, as well as carrots, in the late summer/early fall so that I can harvest them all winter long...hopefully...in low tunnel situations.

Also doing chard, spinach, broccoli, carrots and such like for winter harvest too.

 

[thistlebloom]

The Wild Garden mix is one I ordered this year too from Territorial.
I'm planning on a deck container planting of salad greens for one of my clients. The tomatoes I planted on their deck last year were a big hit. I thought the mix would be fun as well as semi ornamental with all the different leaf types in there.