shiso germination needs one odd trick. It needs repeated freezing and thawing. Put it in a freezer and let it freeze for several days. Take it out of the freezer into somewhere its cool (not warm) for few days and repeat this three or four times. This sort of mimics nature with its arrival of spring. After the fourth or fifth time of doing this, scatter the seeds in a pot filled with soil then add about 1/4" of soil on top and water well. And that is supposed to help with germination. I used to go dig up the volunteers I find in my yard.

I find shiso germination to be almost as frustrating as parsnips. Parsnips has to be the worst in germination. And it must have the shortest viability.

Never had luck with shiso when I tried in a flat or waited for the soil to warm in the spring time.

Kinds of lettuce: buttercrunch bib, red iceberg, green oakleaf, merville de quatre, rogue d'hive, bronze mignoitte, tom thumb, pirat butterhead, antares leaf lettuce, blushed butter romain...Some solid green, solid pink or red, some speckled, some form tight head, some loose, some frilly and all are supposed to taste very yummy. I have tom thumb growing in the green house right now. It's only about 2 inches across. They need to be about 5 inches across.

You can find these seeds at rareseeds,com, seedsavers.com, fedcoseeds.com, groworganics.com, Anniesheirloomseeds.com, Victoryseeds.com, territorialseeds and bountiful gardens. One really odd place I found was a place called mypatriotsupply.com.

rareseeds.com is BakerCreekHierloom seeds company and its probably the best heirloom seed company around. Seedsavers exchange is a non-profit organization. Their goal is to save varieties from going extinct.

To Oakleaf and Eden:

I will be planting number of japanese ume trees so I can make pickled plum. Also will be planting sansho trees for sansho pepper. Plum and pepper will not be available for about a year or two. Sansho pepper would be easy to ship when they become available on my farm.

Sansho trees are more like shrub and require may be four feet by four feet space. They are cold hardy so it should be quite okay in Seattle area. Soil doesn't have to be that great but it does need descent drainage. branches have nasty thorns so plant them underneath your windows. Burglers will have extra hard time. You can make tsukudani out of sansho pepper leaves and the husk of the seed pod IS the sansho pepper. Not the seed some grind the seed as well. And lastly, you do need a male and a female plant. You can get them at bayflora.com and onegreenworld.com. Latter is probably one of the best places to get trees. Another place is fourwindsnursery in California.