Washburn's Community Seed Bank
@ the Washburn Public Library
Sponsored by: the Seed Savers Alliance
Since this family is so large, please check next to each type of plant for more information.
Seed Saving Tips
Quoted from the online Guide to Saving Vegetable Seeds
Some General Information on the Daisy Family:
Organic High Mowing Mesclun Mix
Lettuce and mustard greens. The diversity of this mix will give you a medley of flavor and color. Mustards grow quickly, shading the soil for lettuce to germinate, creating a bountiful mix of greens for cut-and-come-again.
Seed Planting Depth: 1/8 inch
Seed Spacing: n/a
Days to Germination: 5-10
Plant Spacing After Thinning: n/a
Plant Height: 2-3 inches
Days to Maturity: 28
Seed Saving Difficulty: Easy
Organic Outredgeous Lettuce
Out does all the reds. Outredgeous is so red that botany students didn’t recognize it as lettuce when they saw it in Frank Morton’s breeding nursery. A superb upright baby leaf variety that forms a loose head (teenage class) at maturity. Makes an outrageous red in your premium gourmet salad mix. (Lactuca sativa)
Seed Planting Depth: 1/8 inch
Seed Spacing: n/a
Days to Germination: 5-10
Plant Spacing After Thinning: n/a
Plant Height: 12-18 inches
Days to Maturity: 30/55
Seed Saving Difficulty: Easy
Organic Resina Calendula
Bright yellow daisy-like blooms with a few orange show-offs to keep the genetic variation of this powerful strain alive and well. Resina flowers are most commonly noted for their medicinal properties. This strain has the highest amount of resins compared to other calendulas which are used as an herbal application for inflammation and localized skin problems. Also used as a dye for food or fabric and as an edible flower. (Calendula officinalis)
Seed Planting Depth: 1/2 inch
Seed Spacing: 2 inches
Days to Germination: 8-14
Plant Spacing After Thinning: 6-8 inches
Plant Height: 12-18 inches
Days to Maturity: 80
Seed Saving Difficulty: Easy
Lettuce
Lettuce is self-pollinating, but plants can cross under some circumstances. 25 feet of separation is generally sufficient to prevent crossing, however.
While each flower opens only during the morning of one day, the flowering period is long and there are almost always flowers blooming on the plants. This means that a flowering plant will have flowers and seeds in all stages of maturity.
Gather dried seed heads (they are easy to recognize) every couple or three days as they ripen and dry, or wait until most seed heads have dried and hang the plant upside down over a tarp or in a paper bag (harvest dry seeds if rains threaten).
Lettuce seeds can remain viable for 3 years if properly stored.