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Self seeding vegetables

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Self seeding vegetables

Mon 2-Nov-09
5:12 pm

Lovage

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Just noticed on Saturday I have some fine Ruby Chard seedlings springing up where I left a plant to produce seed in summer. I will probably leave the seedlings now and move to another bed in Feb.

I planted out self sown Rocket, Land Cress, Mustard Greens and Lambs Lettuce in early Sept. I haven't bought ( or sowed ) seeds of these for about 7 years now - just leave a few plants to flower and seed, couldn't be easier

Also do some flowers the same way, Nigella, Nasturtiums, Amaranthus and Poppies - I leave the seedlings if convenient otherwise transplant a few and hoe the rest up

Anyone else tried this?

Mon 2-Nov-09
8:02 pm

JoannaS

Latvia

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I used to do that in Derbyshire, not really had the chance yet much in Latvia. We found the Swiss Chard came up again from plants that had overwintered even though temperatures got down to -27C so we are hoping for the same again this year with Ruby Chard and that will give us a chance of harvesting some greens before we can really get anything else in. Last year we couldn't really get in the garden until about mid-April when the snow finally thawed. I had nasturtiums this year so hope they will self-seed and we have kept some sweetcorn and dried it in the hope we don't have F1 plants and so save a fortune on the cost of sweetcorn seeds.

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Sat 7-Nov-09
12:34 pm

Newmarket

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I planted out self sown Rocket, Land Cress, Mustard Greens and Lambs Lettuce in early Sept. I haven't bought ( or sowed ) seeds of these for about 7 years now – just leave a few plants to flower and seed, couldn't be easier

Thanks for that, Lovage. I'm going to give that a go. Our nasturtiums self seed like mad but this is the first year we've harvested the seeds for salads and pickling.

Sat 7-Nov-09
12:42 pm

Newmarket

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I saw photos of your sweetcorn on your blog Joanna - it looked fantastic. I grew mine in an enourmous pot this year and it failed completely Frown

Fri 12-Nov-10
10:50 am

Green fingerish

Devon, UK

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I have Verbena Bonariensis that self seeds - it is supposed to be difficult to grow but seems to survive what ever we do to it. Last year it was under the bonfire and it is back and as happy as ever!

Okay so it isn't a vegetable but hey it brings in the pollinators and provides good late season bee food

I am a bean counter… no, really, I count beans (and basil and beetroot and bergamot and borage and broccoli and brussels sprouts and … cabbages and…)

Fri 12-Nov-10
11:22 am

mike.

Coventry

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I regularly leave parsley and chives to self-seed. They've been the most successful so far for me. I left land cress in for over a year to let that go to seed too. I ended up with a small jar of seeds but haven't had a good germination rate from them frown Since I've got so many seeds I might as well throw handfuls of them in a corner of the garden.

I saved some red sunflower seeds from this summer (at least I think I saved some, I hope I didn't feed them all to our mice!) so I might scatter some of those in the spring - I was planning on some 'guerilla gardening' and scatter them in various places such as grass verge, edges of foopaths, etc.

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Fri 12-Nov-10
11:25 am

mike.

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fn said:

I saw photos of your sweetcorn on your blog Joanna - it looked fantastic. I grew mine in an enourmous pot this year and it failed completely

Our corn failed this year too. It grew but completely failed to ripen before the cold weather killed the plants off frown If I try corn again, I'll get one of the varieties designed to grow in colder climates.

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Fri 12-Nov-10
4:56 pm

seth

lincolnshire fens

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Cardooms self seed ,can be flower or veg, as do dill and borage had peas and runner beans in the past;lots more probably would except we're too hasty or keen the next spring.

Seed catalogues are responsible for more unfulfilled fantasies than the web and playboy combined . (after Michael Perry)

Sat 13-Nov-10
2:12 pm

maria

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Hello! interesting read, Im wondering if it might be wise to deeply sew cornflower and cosmos where their to grow now! I have potted up sweet peas in the cold frames as a dear old friend told us to experiment with sweet peas!

here in Bulgaria winter temperatures can go quite low, -26 last winter for a few nights, but this spring we had a glut of self seed tomatoes, ( I used to throw the washing up water in that bed) nice big ones too havent a clue about the variety but very tasty, we also had 100s of those cherry tomatoes! absolutely 100s, a nuisance! so im getting that patch rotivated, hopefylly they wont apear again, I know their tasty a few would be fine, but it was a jungle of vines( excuse is the weather was very wet in the spring so i couldnt keep on top of that bed!) Is it too late to seed up pansies? now i have this cold frame I want to make the most of it, chow, toffeeapple

Sat 13-Nov-10
2:17 pm

kayerunrig

lincolnshire

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sweetcorn a total failure here as well it just never seemed to thrive, never had a problem before , so its back to proper seeds instead of F1 supersweet serves me right for trying a new improved variety , will resort to the good old Wilkos next year...lol...i grow most things from seeds im improving in the garden but sweetcorn has never been an interest ,very tempted to order heirloom mix tomato seed from the States this year , need a bit of extra variety trouble is they tend to come in half pound bags

Sat 13-Nov-10
2:39 pm

Toffeeapple

North Bucks

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kayerunrig said:

very tempted to order heirloom mix tomato seed from the States this year , need a bit of extra variety trouble is they tend to come in half pound bags

I'm pretty sure that you'd be able to off-load a good amount here, by suggesting that you'd be happy to send some seeds to anyone willing to send you a pound coin(or 50p, for example) and a stamped, self addressed envelope...n'est pas?

I'll try that again!

Sat 13-Nov-10
3:14 pm

seth

lincolnshire fens

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kayerunrig said:

kayerunrig said:

,very tempted to order heirloom mix tomato seed from the States this year , need a bit of extra variety trouble is they tend to come in half pound bags

Heirloomtoms,org has 80 varieties of toms. Plants of Distinction 90+ both have american and european heirloom varieties including some mixtures..