Are there other dopers who grow plants from seed and are willing to share their horticultural forays>
Here is an abbreviated list from me:
Adenium - several species and many cultivars
Agave - several species
Mesembs - lots of species of Lithops, Dinteranthus, etc.
Cacti - Ferocactus, Astrophytum, Mammilaria, etc, (Many, Many species)
Palms
Cycads
Desert trees, including Desert willow, velvet and honey mesquites, ironwood,
Maples, Avocados
And nearly all normal American garden food plants, and some not so normal.
Flowers and veggies, natch, including wildflowers. I collect and save seed for next year’s planting, if I get around to it.
Haven’t grown anything particularly difficult or exotic, though. Hmm, maybe propagating ferns by lightly burying spore-covered frond fragments (if you’re willing to consider a spore a seed) is as “unusual” as my plantsmanship gets.
I gave up gardening a couple years, but was an avid gardener for 45 years.
Beans and peas cannot be transplanted and I always grew them from seed. Lettuce grows well and quickly from seed, but I usually bought flats that I could start harvesting (by taking leaves and leaving the plant growing) in a couple weeks. Things like broccoli could be grown either way and I would usually by flats for an early harvest and plant seeds for a later one. Tomatoes I never tried to grow from seed; our growing season is too short. Basil is another one that I would plant from flats and simultaneously plant seeds.
In the widest sense I would include fern spores as “seed”. The fern life cycle is fascinating…little waxy gametophytes that when fertilized produce the sporophyte (can you tell that I an a botanist?) And then the plant we know as a fern.
You are so cool! Growing ferns deliberately and getting results.
I have grown them, but never deliberately as they just occurred in my seed pots that were being kept under highly humid conditions where I used to live on the northern Pacific coast USA.
You must be an optimist by nature…that is the indication of anyone who grows plants from seed.
I usually work from transplants, but this year I’m trying to grow Poblano, Habanero and Anaheim peppers from seed, along with several varieties of sunflower. The seeds are old, so I don’t have high hopes. No biggie, because I can always get seedlings for them locally any time during the summer.
Gourds. I’ve grow gourds for many years. Only bought the seeds once. There are lots of seeds in one gourd and I save them yearly. I’ve had lots of luck with watermelon, too.
My Daddy grew his tomatoes plants from seed. I have never had much luck doing it. I try every year. Maybe this year. Always hopeful in the spring.
:dubious: What do you mean? I grow many of mine indoors then transplant them out later- they don’t like a lot of root disturbance, it’s true, but it’s more successful than sowing direct.
I grow most of my vegetables and flowers from seed. Sometimes I buy in chilli plants, because I don’t tend to keep the house warm enough for them to be happy very early on in the year, but if I start them off once it’s warmer, the season’s too short, but basically everything else is normally from seed.
I’ve also got three species of tree fern I’ve started off from spores at the moment, no sporophytes as yet, but give them a few more decades and they’ll be impressive
I’ve always had terrible luck starting plants indoors and transplanting, so for decades gardening for me was a strictly from seed operation. Alas, my new apartment does not have a designated gardening area so I may not be growing anything this year.
I’ve grown trees from seed, have Koelreuteria (golden rain tree) seedlings coming along now, a grab-bag of stuff from a rain forest mix, African violet and gloxinia seedlings and assorted ornamentals and vegetables (eggplant and tomatoes mostly) destined for the garden. And a spaniel puppy.
Currently transitioning from fluorescents to LEDs for indoor seed starting.
The only plants I routinely grow from seed are flowering annuals - mostly zinnias and marigolds. I keep some late-season seedheads when I remove the scraggly adult survivors in December or January. Then I scrape back the mulch, sprinkle the new seeds, recover with mulch, and have flowers by late March. In case we have a cold winter I start some seeds in flats in my garage to hedge against the chance of frost killing the outdoor seedlings.
I have a couple of rhododendrons and three dwarf palmettos that sprouted from the seeds of nearby plants and by pure chance they are in places where I could let them grow. Mostly they sprout up where they are not wanted.
My late BIL grew a buckeye tree from a seed; it was about 30 feet when we had to have it dropped. I’ve done some flowers and tomatoes from seeds but not so much lately. Gramma taught me as I was growing up to harvest the seeds from my best plants and save them for the next year, starting them in the house early in the spring.
I don’t normally grow anything from seed but the litter Digger has been caring for a dirt garden in the yard for about three weeks and watering her mud every day so we decided to get her some seeds and and we planted them over the weekend in one of those seed pod green house things. I do’t have high hopes but she really enjoyed the activity.
Here’s someone else who starts peas, runner beans and broad/fava beans off in the shed and then transplants them. Always struggled doing french beans this way, though, so I sow them direct; Chickpeas/garbanzo also.
At the moment aubergine/eggplant and courgette/zucchini are on windowsills, pumpkin and squash are in process, hopefully soon to join them. Beans and peas in the shed later, salad leaves, land cress and spinach direct; rocket has taken over a couple of the raised beds, so I don’t need to sow it any more, just pull up the excess. Basil indoors in a little while. Cucumbers - I’ll buy plants, because my mentor told me to.
I bought an organic jalapeño plant last year. I saved the seeds from the fruit. Late last week I threw them into the pot the original plant was in, covered them with a bit of soil, and watered them. It’s been days and I don’t see any sprouts yet! :mad:
In a small corner of our yard I tilled and amended the soil, then purposely planted dandelion, broad leaf plantain, and other broad leaf weeds. When our neighbor was over for a beer last summer he thought we’d gone mad. Actually, we have a sucalta tortoise and along with hay, that’s his diet.
ETA: it’s hilarious how easy it is to purpose-grow weeds!
I’m about to. But then I live in California. I’m not planting tomatoes this year. I’m converting my tomato planter into an herb planter… if you get my drift.
I try to, but seldom have success. I am growing both Tomatoes and peppers(Poblano and damned-if-i-know-mystery* hot ones).
I am growing them in those little pressed paper eggcartony starters to cut apart and put outside later, since I am in Michigan. however the tomatoes are way ahead of schedule, and peppers are way behind, so this year will probably be a failure as usual.
