Edible Beauty

My family eats a lot of salad. It's Jason's favorite vegetable outside of collard greens. In light of this,
I have well over 150 varieties of lettuce seeds in my seed collection. I sow lettuce seeds 9 months out of each calendar year in order to ensure a never ending bounty.

I've tried most of the 150 seed varieties now and have narrowed it down to a few that are my favorites. Looks are very high on my list of desirable traits. Lettuce comes in a dazzling array of colors, sizes and leaf shape. I use the palette derived from the rest of my garden to decide which lettuces to plant where and when.

Pictured are Key Lime and Australian Spotted. These pictures were taken in my garden yesterday. Key lime is tender, sweet and delicious. The Australian Spotted has a bit more crunch to it but it's also sweet and delicious. It's deep maroon flecks are beguiling against their chartreuse back drop. Both are tasty and add interest to the salad bowl. I have lettuce seedlings just now emerging which will supply us for the next three months or so. New lettuce seeds will go in to the ground in February and will make their first appearance in March and April. And so it begins again.