Saving lettuce seeds

Last week I pulled some Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce and some Oak Leaf Lettuce that was blooming in the garden and I re potted them into some #10 cans and brought them in the garage to let them finish drying.  I intentionally let these go to seed to save some seed for the fall crop.  I didn't want the wind/rain to blow the seeds away since they were very close to being ready.

Once they finished blooming, I broke off the tops of the plants containing the blooms and stored them in some containers inside.  You can see below how the flowers have dried and they have some "white fluff" coming out the end just like a dandelion that you blow on.  Actually, it is the same type thing.  The white feathery thing acts as a parachute, allowing the wind to carry the lettuce seed and deposit it elsewhere so that it can grow again.  We want to capture the seeds before they blow away.

Dried flowers of Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce

All you do at this point is grab the white "parachute" of the seed between your thumb and index finger and pull and the seed will come out.  I've taken a closeup picture below to show the seed attached to its parachute.  You can also see why this type lettuce is called Black Seeded Simpson lettuce!!

 Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce seeds

This takes quite a while to do by hand.  When I had finished there was a lot of other material mixed with the seeds.  I ran it all through a sieve, but I was unable to filter out some of the other material.  That's okay.  These seeds are very tiny.  When it comes time to plant them, I'll just pinch a little and scatter on the seed bed.  It really doesn't matter that there are other little pieces of flower intermixed.  The seeds will still grow.

Now we just want to store the seeds in a dry, dark location so that they'll be ready for planting this fall.  I used a funnel to pour the seeds into an old ibuprofen bottle, ensuring that I've labeled the top of the container with the name of the seeds and when the seeds were collected.

Seed saving storage

We like eating Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce and saving the seeds from this year's crop to be used for future crops ensures that we'll be enjoying fresh, healthy salads from our garden for years to come.