Overwintered lettuce?

Last year was a bounty of lettuce. Thanks to my phones magical ability to remind me, I started new seeds every three weeks, without fail. Once the weather got too cold for the lettuce to grow, I just left the final seedlings in place, hoping they would survive the winter under cover.

Once it became clear I wasn't going to get around to covering the gardens in a timely manner, I expected they would die off first freeze.

Once they survived the first freeze and were still kicking, I figured they would surely die during the extended freezes, or the garden flooding, or being buried in snow for days. Granted,  none of which would have been an issue if the garden had been covered.

Well, here we are in March, and the majority of the lettuce has not only survived, but grown into small plants ready to fill out into full size heads in short order.

Hard to Kill, these lettuce Die Hard. 

So, what was the magic trick? I really can't say, it could have been any number of factors. Soil samples show that I have adequate levels of all the macro nutrients, the lettuce was certainly placed out at the right age, and despite harsh conditions through the winter, the sun also came out more than usual.

The variable I am most interested in though, is the kelp meal foliar spray I gave the plants this year. Kelp is supposed to provide the plants a ton of micronutrients, and also plant hormones that supposedly help them weather tough conditions and freezing.

Now normally, talk about plant hormones triggers my BS meter as yet another nonsensical claim that the gardening world is rife with, but it seems this one may have some merit. Hopefully I'll have the chance to do some further testing someday, set up a control group, etc.

For now, all I know is that I will be eating lettuce before I normally put out seeds.

The garden, finally covered just in time for late spring.