I'm in zone 9 (southern portion of the san joaquin valley)
I put lettuce seeds directly into the ground. I had to buy pony packs this
year as I got a late start.
Everything is doing good. We've already had a light frost.
No info about rutabagas.
UC Davis has a lot of information. they also have a great gardening book
just for CA. It's worth the $$
http://vric.ucdavis.edu/usesites/ressite.htm#garden

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/InOrder/Shop/Shop.asp

HTH
Nicole
"Dennis Edward" wrote in message
news:EVGnf.105654$Eq5.25619@pd7tw1no...
FYI: west coast, zone 8, pretty much a newbie.


I want to grow lettuce and maybe some other early cold-season crops this
year, but I'm a little unclear on how it goes. I've been told that lettuce
seeds need to be refrigerated for 24 hrs to "trigger" them, but I've also
been told that they should be started indoors. So, do I refrigerate them,
then put them in trays indoors until they sprout, then plant them outside?
Any limit on temp? Will frost kill lettuce seedlings? If so, how early can
I really do this? Will a frame-and-plastic-tarp setup help significantly?

I'm also interested in doing this for other early crops like maybe
rutabagas. Any others?