I have never had to refrigerate (stratify) lettuce to get it to
germinate. I used to sow seed directly but now the ants carry off so
much of the seed so that I start indoors under lights, then transplant.
I am also in Zone 9 (the AZ desert version) and lettuce does great in
the winter and takes our light frosts. Right now, it really looks nice.
I have transplants going and set them out continuously as the older
plants are used up. I have never checked the temperature for
germination but I expect it's around 70 degrees.

Rutabaga and most root vegetables do not transplant well and are best
grown by seeding directly in the ground.

Olin
====================================

"Nicole H" wrote in message
...
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?