Lettuce, Seeds of Love
by SeedGal seedgal.com — all rights reserved. January 24, 2018
Once upon a time lettuce grew wild along rocky river banks or coastal sandy soil on almost every continent, much like a weed. Most likely, lettuce was foraged along the virile valleys of Euphrates and along the banks of the Mediterranean. Regions of Mongolia also had wild versions of red leaf lettuce.
Lettuce Love
Lettuce seeds took the spotlight with little value for the leaves; the seeds were often ground up and pressed for the preparation of meals. Featured in Egyptian limestone artwork are records of ancient Egyptian Gods with espoused passion for lettuce associated with virility.
Recently medical research proved the hormones responsible for milk production are stimulated with compounds found naturally in certain types of lettuce; however Native Americans knew about this along time ago! Indians prepared tea with wild lettuce (Lactuca virosa) to help new mothers produce breast milk. Around 50 AD, Roman savant known as ‘Pliny the Elder’ documented early types of lettuce noting the milky bitter flavors of some. In comparison with Greeks, Romans preferred to eat their lettuce prior to a meal. For storage, Romans often blanched the lettuce leaves adding them to jars of brine and vinegar. A highly respect Greek dietician (Galen) claimed that on the contrary ; eating lettuce after dinner and just before bed was the most beneficial aid for a good night’s rest.
By the 1500’s most of the world was growing lettuce as a food staple. Missionaries traveling to China brought the red variety back to France and people liked this lettuce so much they propagated this variety in their own gardens for decades Lactuca Sativa var. augustana. In the early history of the United States, other lettuce was introduced with Spanish explorers and grew exceptionally well along the east coast and it adapted robustly.
Dreams of Lettuce
In some lettuce types there’s a natural compound which might make you sleepy. If your lunch routine is usually a large salad and your day drags along at work or worse, studying for exams — there is a good reason to stop consuming big salads (as your lunch) and find energizing alternatives. Everyone’s metabolism is different maybe big salads during the day won’t affect you; however if you find yourself feeling sleepy after lunchtime, consider changing your rabbit-habit reserving salads for evenings instead of during the day.
Dried lettuce juice was used to promote sleep in Elizabethan times. Through World War II, lactucarium, a sedative made from wild lettuce extracts was administered to patients in hospitals as a sleeping aid. ²
Lettuce USA
With rigor on safety, the USDA website is very easy to use and serves as an excellent resource for anyone interested in agriculture business.
For example, to ensure intellectual property protection to breeders of lettuce there is a form about lettuce varieties showing 10 types of lettuce plus a category ‘Other’ to ensure all varieties can be considered.
The main groups are: Cutting Leaf, Butterhead, Bibb, Cos or Romaine, Great Lakes Group, Vanguard Group, Salinas Group, Eastern Ithaca Group, Stem, and Latin.
Reasons to Grow Your Own
Robotic Farming
Lettuce might be coming to your grocery store that literally never touched soil or got to photosynthesize in natural sunshine. Mass produced lettuce is grown all indoors with LED lights and shipped for distribution.⁴ Some crops are grown while in transit like in rail cars or shipping containers.
Shipping lettuce is costly
Growing your own lettuce saves the amount of resources it takes to ship it to grocery store sometimes over 2,000 miles!⁵
About growing lettuce
For spring harvest, try planting seeds directly into the ground or the pot they will reside in for the season (no transplanting needed) when temperatures are stable above 35 degrees with sun, ideally 45–70 degree weather for sprouting. Lettuce seeds are itty-bitty tiny, here is an idea for handling very small seeds: Pick a calm day with no wind, for outdoor sowing of lettuce. Get the soil wet first just dampen. Use one standard size sheet of heavy paper or card stock and fold it lengthwise. Sprinkle a few seeds from the packet into the fold. Put the packet down; hold the folded paper 2 inches over the first row and tap the bottom of the paper fold so the seeds fall as you can watch them fall in a relatively controlled manner; sow by tapping seeds in the designated place for lettuce. Cover with super light seed starting mix. Have your sprinkler setting or hand sprayer on mist (or a fine setting) when watering.
Sprouting Lettuce Seeds
Keep seedlings moist and never let the soil dry out for at least the first 2 weeks after they sprout. Typically hardy, add small amounts of nitrogen rich fertilizer about mid-growth; keep your lettuce rows near other (heavier feeders) like squash to make fertilizing sections of your garden logically grouped together. Allow a few to plants to flower, pollinators will love it.
Clemson University of South Carolina provides super details on growing lettuce and provides tips on Romaine -Parris Island plus other types.
Lettuce Wrap Day - Celebrate July 20th!
Yes, there is a day dedicated to lettuce. If you would like to celebrate your garden lettuce all season, look at this collection of recipes for entertainment ideas from 'Food And Wine' - Shrimp and Mango Lettuce Wraps below.
References:
1.) Reference — https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-lettuce-was-a-sacred-sex-symbol-12271795/
2.) University of Nebraska — Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska — Lincoln. 1995 G95–1268 Lettuce and Other Salad Greens
By Susan D. Schoneweis University of Nebraska — Lincoln.
3.) https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/plant-variety-protection
4.) https://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/automated-indoor-vertical-farm-will-produce-30000-heads-lettuce-day.html
5.) https://cuesa.org/learn/how-far-does-your-food-travel-get-your-plate
Other links of interest on lettuce
USDA: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/01-Lettuce%20ST-470-01%202015.pdf
‘Lettuce and Kings: The Power Struggle Between Horus and Set’
by Morgan Jerkins — Michigan Quarterly Review
Agriculture Marketing Resource Center —
[annual consumption of all types of lettuce in USA was 25.8 pounds per person] https://www.agmrc.org/search?q=lettuce
Clemson University,South Carolina
http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/vegetables/crops/hgic1312.html
Romaine lettuce seed source to buy seeds online — seedgal.com on Etsy!
