March 16, 2010: Lettuce Give Thanks for the Gift of Seeds

A while back, I was picked by Meredith (The Enchanted Earth) to receive an assortment of lettuce seeds in celebration of the "half anniversary" of her blog. The seeds came in today's mail, and I'm thrilled to have received.......

Australian Yellow
Bronze Arrow
Cracoviensis
Drunken Woman
Parris Island Cos
Yugoslavian Red Butterhead

Mr. H was especially pleased to see "Drunken Woman". He said it has been a long time since he's had one of those. I don't think he was speaking of lettuce.




Thank you, Meredith! These varieties will be added to those sent by Daphne and Dan, as well as a few I actually purchased for myself.......

Anuenue
Buttercrunch Bibb
Gourmet Mix
Jericho
Little Gem Romaine
Manoa
Red Romaine
Red Sails
Summer Crisp

What a wonderful array of greens I'll have to look forward to this year! I will truly have a "friendship garden", as so many of my blogging friends have contributed their seeds.

I'm in the process of adding a second raised bed for all of this year's lettuce varieties. Both beds will be provided with lattice covers for shade during our hot summer, hopefully extending the season for them. The lattice will also serve as framework for a cover during the winter freeze.

In the meantime, the newly planted seeds are taking over my laundry room!





I have just one shelf left in the window, and I don't think I'd better stack them any higher on my dryer. Last night I planted peppers, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, eggplant, basil, dill, parsley, and a lot of flowers.

23 comments:

  1. Your so punny...

    I'm looking forward to seeing the lattice for shading your lettuces. The lettuces in my salad table have already bolted. Maybe you'll inspire me to build something for next spring's lettuces. ;-)

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  2. Momma_S, I did the lattice thing on my 2008 lettuce and it worked great. Didn't do it last year, and lettuce bolted. I just put a half sheet of white vinyl privacy lattice up on 5-gallon buckets in that first try, this year I'm going to actually attach it to some little corner posts.

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  3. I can't wait to see the new lettuce bed and the lattice framework, sounds like a great idea all around!

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  4. Look at all those seedling trays. They're so beautiful they bring tears to my eyes.

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  5. That was a truly awful pun. I'm growing drunken woman just for the name, too, since it's just. . . lettuce, after all. But I love lettuce varieties. If I could get a job growing lettuce for a restaurant, I'd be tickled. They're so pretty!

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  6. I think Mr. H has the right idea. Ha! Dang, Granny....that's alot of different kinds of lettuce. I'm growing like....4?

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  7. How exciting to have so many varieties to grow. I love the name "Drunken Lady". I wonder why it is named that?

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  8. Anyone want to place bets on how disappointed Mr. H is going to be with that one? Pretty hard for salad to live up to that name, LOL!

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  9. Kelly, me too! I'm going to try to hold back on planting more lettuce right away, maybe start a few every two weeks.

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    Ribbit, you should see them today. Everything is stacked, even the ones in the window. If everything germinates, I might have to run lights 24 hours a day and let them go under in 12 hour shifts. Not a bad idea, I can start twice the number of seeds that way!

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    Stefaneener, I hate to pick my lettuces, as I grow them as much for their beauty as I do for their edibility.

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    EG, you men are all alike ;-)

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    Noelle, I can't find the source of the name, but the full name is Drunken Woman Frizzy Headed, possibly because of its savoyed leaves.

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    Erin, I don't know about that. I never saw a salad get sick and barf all over the bedroom rug. Hey, I was young and foolish when that happened!

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  10. You are all cracking me up! I saw the Drunken Woman Frizzy Headed lettuce in one of the many seed catalogs I get. I could easily see where the Frizzy Headed part comes in but the Drunken Woman was a mystery - perhaps because they are "easy" ... well easy to to grow?! ;)

    That's a lot of stacked planting trays AG - better hope you don't get a small earth tremor or they may all come tumbling down!

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  11. Oh, they are stacked higher tonight, Kitsap! I planted more flowers and a few tomatoes that will be grown in containers. Mr. H needs to feel needed, so I'm growing those tomatoes for him to pack out in the mornings and in at night ;-)

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  12. The Yugoslavian Red is one of my favorites....A lettuce with the name Drunken Frizzy Head Woman has to have one interesting story behind it...I envision a frizzy head drunken guerilla gardener scattering lettuce seed across the countryside...lol...oh wait that would be me :)

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  13. Sunny, I had a few Yugoslavian Red seeds from Dan last year, and they were my favorites of all I grew. As for the Frizzy Headed Drunken Woman, I gave myself a perm today, and there's a bottle of wine chilling in the fridge....maybe.

    Nah, I'd just get sick ;-)

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  14. That is an excellent selection of lettuce! The 'drunken women' lettuce would go well with the 'lazy housewife' bean, ha.

    Those peppers you sent germinated very well, like 98%. I will also be growing a lot more of them because of it. I originally was going to growing a bunch of pustagold peppers but only one out of 12 germinated. Yours came to the rescue!

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  15. I'm gonna start calling you the lettuce queen...although you might just as well be the tomato queen. I love "Drunken Woman" hahaha. I would just grow it because of the name.

    I wish I had a window like that! I hate feeling so dependent on artificial lighting.

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  16. Dan, I'm glad to hear the peppers germinated well, as I didn't buy any new ones this year. All that I bought from Ohio Heirloom Seeds had excellent germination last year, except for that darned purple one. Pustagold sounds just nasty! Like some yellow infection oozing out of a body ;-)

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    Ha! Thomas, I don't even like lettuce and tomatoes mixed together, unless they're on a BLT!

    That window doesn't do a bit of good, as it faces north. The containers are only there because it's warm in the laundry room, and I can hover over them until I see something sprouting. Then they will go under artificial lights in the shed. The window also had metal grid shelves, so I can hang a grow light from them. The peppers might stay inside rather than out in the shed.

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  17. Except for Romaine and Bibb, the rest are not known to me.

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  18. Wow look at them all. I was planting my brassicas recently. Hopefully soon I'll have the energy to blog about it. Hope your friendship garden grows well.

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  19. Lakeviewer, I'd not heard of many of them, so it will be fun trying out all the different varieties!

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    Daphne, did I catch up with you yet? I just checked, and I have one teeny-tiny Buttercrunch lettuce showing . That's all, nothing else yet.

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  20. hi there! I'm looking forward to seeing your garden pictures real soon with all those greens and I have bookmarked your site.
    Have a lovely day.

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  21. Mayet, thanks for visiting! I'm expecting another lovely gardening day today.

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  22. Oops, Granny, I feel bad that I missed this one, darn it. I love the idea of your friendship garden, and am so glad you received the seeds in good time to plant at least some of them. (They're all new, so should last a couple of seasons with decent storage, I hope.)

    My apologies to Mr. H, but I don't think these seeds will make the kind of Drunken Woman he's imagining, LOL!

    Just catching up on your archive now. My reading is getting more spotty as the season warms up and I'm outside more and at my computer less. ;)

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  23. Meredith, these lettuces get a brand new bed of their own! I've started my other lettuce seeds indoors, and I'm giving them a two week head start before I plant these. I'm going to TRY to start some every two weeks or so, to have fresh lettuce through the season.

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