‘Aunt Mae’s Bibb’ lettuce checks all the boxes

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In 1937 , Nestor and Amber Keene acquire a very peculiar Bibb lettuce from Nestor ’s Aunt Mae Smith of Millheim , Pennsylvania , who had , in turning , received it from “ local sept named Zimmerman who had grown it for decennary in Brush Valley . ” The brilliant - green lettuce was crisp , crunchy , bass - spined , and first-class for making salads and sandwich . It was also exceptionally hardy , ostensibly unbothered by hotness or frost .

The shekels was so wondrous , in fact , that the twain would grow it not only year after year for the rest of their life but also share its seeds with patrons of the barber shop Nestor open up in the early fifties in Boalsburg , Pennsylvania . A 1993Centre Daily Timesarticle describe that “ when the seed cases are work and ironical , Nestor picks them , crushes them in his mitt , and swarm the content from one container to another until the seeds separate from the chaff . ”

Nestor Keene cuts the hair of a young client in 1969. This photo was published in “Voices of Central Pennsylvania” in October 2008, courtesy of Amber Keene.

For decades , Nestor keep back packets of the suitably named‘Aunt Mae ’s Bibb ’ lettuceby the Johnny Cash cash register for customers who requested it . When Nestor retired in the 1980s , his son Robert take over the class barber shop and continued to bid packet of the locally democratic sugar seed .

In 1995 , Kelly Yeaton of Pennsylvania donate two seed samples of   ‘ Aunt Mae ’s Bibb ’ lettuce to Seed Savers Exchange . One had been grown by Nestor in 1993 , the other by Robert a year later .

Yeaton ’s donation alphabetic character describes the lettuce as a “ non - hybrid which seems to have come to fire up over among the Amish and Mennonite farmers and family of Brush Valley , near Madisonburg , Pennsylvania . ”

Nestor Keene cuts the hair of a young client in 1969. This photo was published in “Voices of Central Pennsylvania” in October 2008, courtesy of Amber Keene.

While Kelly , anExchangelister , never name this lucre , Seed Savers Exchange did — for the first prison term in 2013 . The following twelvemonth , SSE introduce it in itscatalog ; it has proved a popular variety ever since .

Kelly Yeaton included this letter with his donation of ‘ Aunt Mae ’s Bibb ’ simoleons seeds .

What Is Bibb Lettuce?

diagnose after John Bibb — a lawyer who developed this variety in Kentucky out of his Frankfort home — Bibb is a tasty , tender , and light butterhead boodle . While Bibb created this green ( earlier called “ limestone kale ” ) in the 1860s , it was n’t commercially available until a 100 later on and took decades after that to become democratic .

Today , Bibb is one of the most sought - after physique of butterhead lucre , along with Boston lettuce . Bibb leaves essay small and tend to remain light , springy green rather than turn scarlet - purple like those of Boston boodle . All butterhead loot have prominent , free head that resemble a blooming rose ; the tight the head , the unseasoned the plant .

How to Grow Lettuce

Lettuce is an idealistic crop for initiate growers . works seeds in the spring or fall when temperature are still coolheaded . Direct sow seeds an 8th of an inch deep , one column inch asunder . Seeds will develop in a week or two .

Thin industrial plant to six to eight inches aside for butterhead , looseleaf , and romaine form and up to 12 in apart for crisphead variety . Lettuce can be grown in dense planting to “ cut and come again , ” or to full maturity to be reap once .

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