How Do You Harvest Seeds From Lettuce?
Seed harvesting is not only good for your pocketbook and for the planet, it is good for your garden. By saving your own lettuce seed, you can select plants that do best in your microclimate and soil. Over a period of a few seasons, you can develop lettuce perfectly suited to your garden. Choose one or more lettuce cultivars, or varieties, and plant seed in the spring. Plant plenty for eating and seed saving. Leave extra room for those plants that will grow to full size for seed. Separate cultivars by about 20 feet to avoid cross-pollination. Accurately label each cultivar with a short stake. Select those plants with desirable characteristics from which to harvest seed while they in their prime for eating. Although one plant will produce more than enough seed for an average family, saving from more plants will preserve genetic diversity. Tie a piece of bright-colored flagging tape around the base of each selected plant to prevent anyone from mistakenly harvesting the plant for food. As
