Lambs Lettuce: Vit Organic Seed

Lamb's Lettuce is something I have never grown before but when I saw the seeds offered by Seeds Ireland, I was curious and thought maybe they could be something I could plant into "spaces" in my garden and enjoy over the Greek winter.

So I had no experience with these. I sowed about 40 seeds into a deep seed tray on September 29th when temperatures here were still approaching 30C or higher. I was very disappointed that only about 3 germinated and then never really grew.

I did some more research on Lamb's Lettuce and discovered from a number of sources that Lamb's Lettuce seeds stay dormant above 20C or approximately 70F.

With that in mind, I waited for the weather to be cooler here in my part of the world when temps would be consistently below 20C.

I sowed about 15 seeds with my own modified version of the "baggy" method, and within 3 days, I saw about 8 seeds had root germinated, and the next day, several more.

So for anyone who has had trouble germinating these, it's quite possible the temperature at the time the seeds were sown could have had a negative effect, but the seeds themselves are still viable.

Also, in my research, I discovered that top growth can be slow even after they have germinated as these tend to put a lot of energy into root development in the first stages of their growth.

Have some patience with these and set them aside and wait for the time of the season when temperature will not exceed 20C.

Germination was quite spotty and the ones that grew were slow to get going for me. Started them in seed trays in greenhouse, might try a different medium next or direct sowing outdoors for comparison.