Anyone collect the seeds from the produce they buy at the grocery store and successfully grow food from it?
I have the notion to start collecting the seeds of the vegetables and fruits we buy most often and attempt to grow them myself. Tonight I used a single jalapeno pepper in making dinner, and collected up the seeds and set them aside in a paper baking up to dry. I got as many seeds from that one pepper as you typically get in a package you'd pay a buck for at the store.
We eat a lot of peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, and cucumbers. Potatoes are easy - chunk 'em up and plant them in the ground after they sprout eyes. I've grown cucumbers from seed packets before, always gone with pepper and tomato starters vs seeds. I'd like to start growing my own veggies. We got a rototiller a couple days ago, and I have notions of turning a large chunk of our front yard into a garden. I've got three citrus trees I planted earlier this year - my plan is to eventually line the entire driveway (at least one side, wife wants frickin Crape Myrtle on the other side) with citrus or fruit trees. We have a lot of yard space that I can make into a garden.
On a related note - who here grows a winter garden? Aside from the handful of days last winter where it got freezing (and the damn snow storm I blame on my wife) the climate is very "spring in the PNW" like - we used to put our garden in the ground in late April or early May - and winters here are very very much like spring up north. I'm thinking that insulating the plants with plastic and piles of straw could save them from a freeze, and its not like the cold weather just sets in rapidly - the forecast will usually give you a few days notice to prepare.
I'd like to really reduce our dependence on the store for vegetables and fruits. Can / freeze what we don't consume fresh. Maybe trade with neighbors or give away some to those who need it too.
I have the notion to start collecting the seeds of the vegetables and fruits we buy most often and attempt to grow them myself. Tonight I used a single jalapeno pepper in making dinner, and collected up the seeds and set them aside in a paper baking up to dry. I got as many seeds from that one pepper as you typically get in a package you'd pay a buck for at the store.
We eat a lot of peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, and cucumbers. Potatoes are easy - chunk 'em up and plant them in the ground after they sprout eyes. I've grown cucumbers from seed packets before, always gone with pepper and tomato starters vs seeds. I'd like to start growing my own veggies. We got a rototiller a couple days ago, and I have notions of turning a large chunk of our front yard into a garden. I've got three citrus trees I planted earlier this year - my plan is to eventually line the entire driveway (at least one side, wife wants frickin Crape Myrtle on the other side) with citrus or fruit trees. We have a lot of yard space that I can make into a garden.
On a related note - who here grows a winter garden? Aside from the handful of days last winter where it got freezing (and the damn snow storm I blame on my wife) the climate is very "spring in the PNW" like - we used to put our garden in the ground in late April or early May - and winters here are very very much like spring up north. I'm thinking that insulating the plants with plastic and piles of straw could save them from a freeze, and its not like the cold weather just sets in rapidly - the forecast will usually give you a few days notice to prepare.
I'd like to really reduce our dependence on the store for vegetables and fruits. Can / freeze what we don't consume fresh. Maybe trade with neighbors or give away some to those who need it too.