ISO- Buttercrunch and peppers..

Don't quite know what I have to exchange just yet, but shipping a couple packets of seeds is ridiculous. Would love to talk "trade."

Trading is good!
List what you have available.
Others, including myself, have listed their available seeds this year.
See what you want and you can offer some of yours.

I agree, shipping costs really add up fast if one tries to order seed from multiple sources.

You don't have to ship an entire package, either, only a few seeds from them. I make small seed envelopes by taping together scrap printer paper, and I write all the growing info on each envelope for that variety. I've been able to put six or seven of the small packets into a business-sized envelope and mail with a single first-class stamp. (I tape each packet to the inside of the envelope so they won't bunch up and jam the cancellation machine.)
I can mail five or six envelopes for the cost of one packet from a seed company.

I have buttercrunch lettuce and a few peppers available, or you can check out the IHA thread if you want to find others to talk trade with. PM me if you're interested in my seeds.

PM'd.

Have some peppers - check my IHA list, let me know if you see anything you like. Trading is the best!!! Have over a dozen new types and varieties of seed all for the cost of a couple of stamps

As I start indoors and get outside, I will have a better idea of what I have to offer in trades. Being that this is my first year storing seeds, I can't make many guesses just yet.

However, it's sure nice to no longer be a seed company's dream. Not that I didn't know they would keep. Just that I didn't know how to, or bother with, storing them. The fact that people are so willing to trade them makes it even better.

Can't wait to see if you can add to your list BBG. I just asked for okra and kale from ander can't wait to start on that new journey. Trying to broaden my horizons slightly, so stuff that I wouldn't think to normally grow are popping out now =D

How many weeks before first frost can you start buttercrunch? Inside or outside?

:scratch:

Lettuce in general....
They need light to germinate so don't keep them in the dark.
Sow seeds 4 weeks before last frost but for Romaine and the head lettuces, start seeds 4-6 weeks.
Sow seeds every 10 days or so to get an extended harvest.
Transplant into the garden when soil can be worked.
You can also interplant between broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, other cool weather tolerant crops, to save space. The lettuce will be harvested before the others grow to maturity.
Lettuce prefers to be transplanted just a little higher above the soil than it came from in the pot, along with endive, raddichio and escarole.
You can harvest the outer leaves when they are 3-4" long. Just cut them off with a scissors to not disturb the roots.
On a hot day, cover the lettuce with shade cloth or cheesecloth to protect from the sun and bolting.

Here's some of my lettuces under cheesecloth. I just bent some wire hangars over the squares and attached with spring-type clothespins. It works. In this particular case I'm shading them from the sun since they were just transplanted but I also do this in hot summer. The Crispino lettuces on the left were planted earlier and are already used to the spring sunshine and didn't need covering any longer.