Has anyone tried crossing & selecting lettuce?

I've been playing with lettuce genes for 10 years, partly inspired by Frank Morton of http://www.wildgardenseed.com/.

I love super crunchy non-headers & I've already created a few nice types - worth trying if you're an amateur like me :-)

Lettuce is easy to cross: just rub one flower on another, label, collect seed & sow. Selection is dead easy too: cut & eat the ugly & sensitive types & save seed from the best plants. After just a few years of further inbreeding you can get a new stable variety. Still, I prefer keeping the line a bit impure, ie with a bit more diversity than what you see in standard varieties.

Combining genes of iceberg, romaine, lollo, buttercrunch, oakleaf, reds & blondes: anything goes! You can really go for the best of all these worlds & create completely new shapes, frills, colors, splashes etc. Edible Art!

Of course, I also have plenty of other, regular varieties. If you'd like to join me in crossing lettuce, contact me via www.lusthof.org.