Seed Collection from Produce?

[Sasquatch]

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.

 

[Sam7sf]

On a related note - who here grows a winter garden?

You mean chickens. Lol.

 

[Sasquatch]

You mean chickens. Lol.

Front yard is gonna be mostly for the garden - chickens in the back yard, maybe the side yard. Don't want the winged bastards wrecking my garden!

 

[2ManyGuns]

You can plant potatoes, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, plant sweet potatoes in May/June for harvest in October or November. There is much you can do for winter crops. I currently have red potatoes, saved from spring harvest growing and everything else mentioned growing.

 

[2ManyGuns]

Spinach, mustard greens, swiss chard and others may be grown, plant extra to feed to your yard birds.

 

[baboon]

I wouldn't be surprised if most store bought produce has sterile seeds to keep you buying it!

You want heirloom seeds try walking RR tracks out in the sticks. We use to find all kings of stuff growing just off the track from when people traveled by train & ate while traveling. Before they had septic system & the shit hit the rail.

We would find all manners of berries, tomatoes & asparagus along the right aways

 

[Grumps21]

Glad you opened this thread. Wife and I were talking about this over the past few days since food is getting expensive. For grins, we are trying this with limes and I’ll report back how it turns out. We did pick up a couple of plum trees at Lowe’s today, and also some cedar planks for an above ground garden. We bought cilantro and parsley along with the trees. If we manage not to kill them then we are looking at tomatoes, japs, bell peps, squash,and cucumbers. Unfortunately we are in the city, so poultry or anything like that is out of the question.

 

[2ManyGuns]

You would most likely need to buy from some non-gmo organic type store that specializes in old time veggies. Maybe whole foods. Personally I would just buy seeds from Burpee or Gurney's and save seeds. Leaf type lettuce is easy, potatoes, sweet potatoes. Plants like carrots need 2 years to produce seeds. Beans, peas, peppers and tomatoes are easy also.

 

[45tex]

Being homeschoolers we set aside a courtyard to teach gardening. Wife set out to compost everything. She said it was OK cause all the fruits and veggies from the store were made sterile so we could not grow our own. Had to buy seeds. Kids grew up years ago, composter is still there. Made of plastic.
Since then we have had 39 foot lemon trees. 6 foot orange trees, neither that tasted very good. Reports from real colleges that say nothing will grow there. all sorts of melons and things with fluffy leaves but no flavor.
I love supermarket stuffs.

 

[Sasquatch]

Spinach, mustard greens, swiss chard and others may be grown, plant extra to feed to your yard birds.

I'm glad you mentioned spinach - I prefer it over most lettuce. Spinach, swiss chard, and kale would be good to cover leafy veggie needs.

Beans of various types would be great too. We used to grow various types of beans as a kiddo - usually picking them as green beans, but sometimes we'd plant some and let the beans mature (usually pintos) - I recall sometimes my grandma would make those into green beans too - we'd have big, thin pods with whole ripe beans mixed in. I loved eating that as a kid.

While we don't eat a lot of peas - planting them and growing them would still be good. I like pea pods, my wife loves snap peas / snow peas, and we can always feed them to the yard birds (once we get those too) and the dogs. Our dogs love their veggies as a treat.

Carrots would be good - love carrots and we do eat a lot of those. As a kid we also grew parsnips - I would eat those raw just like a carrot.

I eat a ton of broccoli - I hadn't thought about growing it here, I only remember we tried growing broccoli and cauliflower once or twice when I was a kiddo and it didn't turn out great.

We used to grow our own pumpkins, watermelons, cantalope, honeydew, and squash of all sorts too. Being raised by my grandparents who were depression-era babies, we had a garden every year until I was 17 - when my grandma became paralyzed after a heart attack with back to back stroke and blood clots that caused gangrene which took her legs and the use of her right arm.

I've grown small gardens here and there as an adult - but we usually lived in town, either in a shitty apartment, or in a rental without a lot of space. The times we had a rental house with yard big enough I'd try to grow some stuff, but I was working long hours back then mostly and usually failed at my gardening. I can grow weeds like no one's business though!

Now that we're down here on a good chunk of property out of the city - its time to get back to my roots as it were. Especially important since I think we're honestly headed for a big crash or economic collapse.

 

[baboon]

Another option is farmers markets or the hobby farmer with a sign out front for produce!

 

[2ManyGuns]

I'm glad you mentioned spinach - I prefer it over most lettuce. Spinach, swiss chard, and kale would be good to cover leafy veggie needs.

Beans of various types would be great too. We used to grow various types of beans as a kiddo - usually picking them as green beans, but sometimes we'd plant some and let the beans mature (usually pintos) - I recall sometimes my grandma would make those into green beans too - we'd have big, thin pods with whole ripe beans mixed in. I loved eating that as a kid.

While we don't eat a lot of peas - planting them and growing them would still be good. I like pea pods, my wife loves snap peas / snow peas, and we can always feed them to the yard birds (once we get those too) and the dogs. Our dogs love their veggies as a treat.

Carrots would be good - love carrots and we do eat a lot of those. As a kid we also grew parsnips - I would eat those raw just like a carrot.

I eat a ton of broccoli - I hadn't thought about growing it here, I only remember we tried growing broccoli and cauliflower once or twice when I was a kiddo and it didn't turn out great.

We used to grow our own pumpkins, watermelons, cantalope, honeydew, and squash of all sorts too. Being raised by my grandparents who were depression-era babies, we had a garden every year until I was 17 - when my grandma became paralyzed after a heart attack with back to back stroke and blood clots that caused gangrene which took her legs and the use of her right arm.

I've grown small gardens here and there as an adult - but we usually lived in town, either in a shitty apartment, or in a rental without a lot of space. The times we had a rental house with yard big enough I'd try to grow some stuff, but I was working long hours back then mostly and usually failed at my gardening. I can grow weeds like no one's business though!

Now that we're down here on a good chunk of property out of the city - its time to get back to my roots as it were. Especially important since I think we're honestly headed for a big crash or economic collapse.

By peas I don't mean just sweet peas but purple hull or cow peas. Can harvest the pods very young and put whole in soups, let them mature, shell them and can or freeze them, let them dry on the bush and make dried peas, to eat, store and then plant the next season. When they are green mature cook them with some bacon or ham, mighty tasty. I use them in vegetable soup to add protein. Squash and zucchini are good also, can be used in casseroles, grilled with some olive oil and seasoned salt or kosher salt.

Don't forget herbs that can be planted in pots and kept near the kitchen, basil, oregano, chives, cilantro. Plant these dry them on low heat in the oven, crush and then store them in jars. A packet of seeds can make a lot of very expensive herbs. Look in your yard/acreage for local wild edibles, I have purslane and dandelions all around, purslane has a lot of good nutrients, if I remember correctly it is high in omega 3 fats. I am still learning about wild edibles, I even downloaded an app to help me learn more.

 

[glenbo]

Fresh herbs are great to have. We used to have over 40 different ones until Hurricane Ike flooded our yard and ruined it for years. Now we use grow boxes and still have a few great ones. I learned the hard way to not put rosemary in a container with anything else, it will kill anything.

 

[baboon]

Fresh herbs are great to have. We used to have over 40 different ones until Hurricane Ike flooded our yard and ruined it for years. Now we use grow boxes and still have a few great ones. I learned the hard way to not put rosemary in a container with anything else, it will kill anything.

I’m going to plant rosemary to try and keep the spiders away from the house! I have seen it take over once planted. The flowers are great to eat!

 

[candcallen]

Threw some watermelon seeds in the yard once.

Thought the jumanji board game exploded the next spring. Had a Jungle of vines growing. Dozens of melons. Had Gallagher stocked for a whole season.

 

[GasGuzzler]

Vegetables from the store do not reproduce well at all, especially melons. The only thing that will reproduce well is tomatoes. I ended up with 17 plants this summer but only planted three. We compost year round and keep a garden February until about this time of year...well there's stuff growing out there. It's not really "kept". Potatoes can be successful this time of year. I suggest composting for the health of the soil and any volunteer plants you might get but buy the seeds from the seed store. Better yet, get seeds from locally grow semi-native veggies such as from a farmer's market (maybe).

 

[GasGuzzler]

I’m going to plant rosemary to try and keep the spiders away from the house! I have seen it take over once planted. The flowers are great to eat!

Our herbs are bedded separately from the regular garden. I had a rosemary that was probably 5 cubic feet but it croaked in the freeze. We grow basil, garlic, thyme, oregano, dill, and echinacea.

 

[baboon]

Our herbs are bedded separately from the regular garden. I had a rosemary that was probably 5 cubic feet but it croaked in the freeze. We grow basil, garlic, thyme, oregano, dill, and echinacea.

Herbs are a great place to start gardening! They are over priced in the stores and shelf life can sucks!

 

[mroper]

Most Citrus Fruit trees are grafted on to a more sturdy root base. I have two avocado plants going. I am going to try tomatoes and potatoes this year.

 

[glenbo]

Whatever good seeds you find or buy, put the excess in your freezer wrapped well. They will keep almost indefinitely frozen.