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Anyone ever just tossed a handful of seeds...

Deeby
9 years ago

And waited for whatever came up? If so, what came up and did it/they grow and produce?

Comments (12)

  • theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
    9 years ago

    Seems like a waste of seeds to me. The only things I would even consider trying it with would be mesclun mixes, baby lettuces, or spinach.

    Rodney

  • nancyjane_gardener
    9 years ago

    I carefully planted my winter stuff last year in neat little rows and areas......
    Then the turkeys came during a weekend we weren't home and the dogs were gone!
    Some of the stuff I could identify and locate, but there were also the weeds that blow in during the winter! Everything was so mixed up that I just pulled what I had and covered the rest with cardboard!
    Damned turkeys! Nancy

  • NewTXGardener (8a Dallas)
    9 years ago

    I didn't even toss, I was cutting off all the leaves from my amaranth because bugs were eating them. And now I have amaranth seedlings growing all over. Not sure what to do yet. May have to pull them all up, I don't think they will grow up to be big enough to be edible before winter.

  • galinas
    9 years ago

    I did... Threw away a handful of dill seeds, after I picked them from the plants and packed in the jar, and a some just didn't fit. I thought that few dill plants will not harm my garden. (sigh) I have a new weed now. It called - dill). I try to pick it while it is small, before it goes to seeds, but because I do not plant dill any more(Why would I?) I try to keep some to have fresh dill all summer long and for my pickling... Guess what? It goes to seeds and I am too busy to cut it before the wind does it job. Next spring - back to square one). Good thing it doesn't spread by roots)

  • oldfixer
    9 years ago

    When winter gets frigid, toss grass seed on top of the snow. In the Spring, enjoy new growth.

  • Persimmons
    9 years ago

    Exactly like Rodney said, I've only ever done this with salad greens or small leafy greens that require to be shallowly sown.

    And also similar to Galinas, I tried the "spray" method to plant flax seeds I had left out of the freezer. Who knew that every last seed would germinate (D:). I have flax growing in the oddest places, and there is not doubt that it will self seed (it seeds similar to borage or morning glories, little packets of seeds sprayed everywhere....).

    It's a shame that pumpkins, tomatoes, eggplants, etc don't grow as weedy as this....

  • wertach zone 7-B SC
    9 years ago

    I let my turnip, kale, and mustard greens go to seed this year with intentions of saving the seed. When they were what I thought would be dry enough, we had a bad thunderstorm before I could harvest them. Nothing left to harvest!

    After plowing for my fall garden I have a really big mixed patch of turnip, kale and mustard greens! I might do the same next year!

    I wish I had your problem galinas, Dill is a hard one for me. I always have germination problems.

  • galinas
    9 years ago

    wertach, try to seed dill in fall or early winter. May be this will make it better - this is how I started my dill invasion)

  • zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin
    9 years ago

    "It's a shame that pumpkins, tomatoes, eggplants, etc don't grow as weedy as this...."

    Obviously, you've never grown currant tomatoes. ;-) They were my worst weed one year.

    Dill is a good "weed" to have, since it attracts beneficial insect predators when in bloom. I had it wild in a previous garden location, and am planning to introduce it into one of my current garden plots... where it will join cleome, martynia, litchi tomato, and flowering mallow as annual volunteers. Ground cherries also make good volunteers.

    The mallow ("Zebrina") began when I tossed several seed-laden mature plants throughout the garden, and tilled them under. There are hundreds of seedlings every year, I let them grow wherever something died or didn't come up. The bees really love the stuff, and wasps love the cleome.
    {{gwi:103237}}

    When I lived in SoCal, I had a winter garden. It consisted of red and green mustards, bok choi, green and purple kohlrabi, Bibb & several kinds of leaf lettuce, and Napa cabbage. I mixed all the seed together, tossed it all over a wide bed that had just been tilled, and raked the soil to cover it. It was beautiful, edible chaos right up until warm weather returned.

  • naturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan
    9 years ago

    I mixed older pea, cat grass (wheat), radish, and a few other types of brassica seeds together and scattered them over a bed, raked over it, and called them my fall cover crop. They will all grow in cool fall weather but the extreme winter temps will kill them. In the meantime they will keep weeds down, hold on to nutrients in the soil so they don't leach downward, add some organic material to the soil, and maybe the peas will even add some extra nitrogen if they get to grow long enough. In the spring I'll just turn the area over and be ready to plant....hopefully without the weeds that often come in through the fall and winter.

  • Deeby
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    All great replies, thanks !