Tuesday, January 26, 2010

On Lettuce Seeds and Lobsters

There's a lot of debate regarding our impact on the Earth. We deplete the ozone layer, contribute to global warming, fill her with trash, rage against her weather and garden pests and generally behave towards her like a spoiled child as we stomp out our carbon footprints as we march off towards our room to slam the door.

She'll win in the end. She always does. She puts the most succulent of meats inside a rock hard shell, terms it 'lobster,' prices it to where you have to mortgage your house to afford it and laughs her pretty self silly as she watches us with pliers and bibs, cursing and raging to the point we swear we'll never eat that blasted thing again. Until the next time.

Lettuce seeds are right up there on her payback list. I started some of my lettuce in flats tonight...I think. I had the seeds in my hand; that at least I know. I picked them up, placed them in the soil, only to find some hiding under my finger nails three cells later. Which cell didn't get planted? Were these extras that hitchhiked rides along the way? Who knows. I'll let them sprout and then figure it out. You won, lady. You reign supreme, hands down. Your flowers, sunsets, mountains and beaches aren't so shabby, either.

I had two types of lettuce mixes that I ordered one was a gourmet blend and the other a heatwave blend.
The seeds I attempted to work with tonight were the gourmet blend. I'm going to wait to direct sow the heatwave blend since hopefully they'll withstand bolting as long as possible. I remembered to water down the soil before I planted this time and covered the flats with plastic wrap until they sprout. I know some lettuce needs light to germinate so these went directly under the lights to join the cole crops. In a few days, I should know what cells those rogue seeds came from.

The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.

4 comments:

  1. I don't like lobster, because it's just too much work getting into those stupid things!
    On the lettuce, I just squeeze a few seeds between thumb and forefinger, then slowly rub them together. The seeds can be dropped into the dibbled holes easily this way. All small seeds are done exactly the same.

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  2. I think you will like that Heatwave, I do that one too since it gets hot so darn quickly here once Spring gets in gear. I sowed a few head lettuce plants the other day and I had the seeds on a white plate so I could see them.... then 4 year old son comes up to the counter and says "whatcha doin' mommy?" and proceeds to blow HARD all over my plate. Yeah, good thing I had more in the packet!

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  3. I really like the heatwave blend. now I'm in Kentucky so it doesn't get as hot as it did when I lived in Jesup, but I do have issues with bolting. I planted heatwave last year and not one plant bolted. I had lettuce AND tomatoes at the same time. Love it. And I also secretly like it being a blend so I never know exactly what variety is in any given square.

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  4. Get out of town!!! You mean with the heatwave blend I could thwart the vegetable gods and have a fully integrated salad from the garden at the same time!?

    I can't wait!

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