Emerging Lettuce Seeds. 03.08.2021

 These started germinating quickly. Lettuce Black Seeded Simpson, planted a few days ago, no warming mat.  This is nice.  Of course, there are many more to follow.  It's interesting, they emerge so much larger than the seeds seem to suggest.

Starting Lettuce Seeds Indoors, from Saved Seeds. 03.05.2021

Today I planted seeds from "Black Seeded Simpson" lettuce, a variety that I recall my mom growing with I was a little lad.  During that era, gardening was especially challenging because there were Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaurs running around the yard and we had to stay out of their way.   Oh, the memories.

I saved these seeds from some lettuce plants I grew last year.   Saving lettuce seeds was a new thing for me.  The flowers were a little sticky, so it wasn't as easy to separate the seeds from the chaff, but perfection isn't necessary and usually isn't an option for me. They cleaned up well enough.

There is a potential these cross bred with wild lettuce, which might result in bitter, smaller leaves.   We'll know if/when they germinate and grow.

Lettuce germinates at 60F to 70F, so I won't use the warming mat.

The variety "Black Seeded Simpson" was introduced in the late 19th century, so people have been growing it for more than 130 years.