Save those seeds from your grocery store fresh vegs!! FREE SEED!

[Lavender2]

I have always been too leery of the hybrid or cross pollination thing.
But I have rooted lemon grass from the grocery... and I get some nice early green onions from root stubs I accumulate in the fridge over the winter, then plant out in early Spring.

 

[wifezilla]

Wait...what??

I can plant those green onion root tips and get more plants???

:tools

 

[insiderart]

Wait...what??

I can plant those green onion root tips and get more plants???

:tools

Yes dear. And potato eyes (let them go long in a dark place), and sweet potato eyes, garlic, ginger.....

As for commercial varieties. Very few of the horticultural crops are hybrids. Hybrid seed is very expensive. Most horticultural crops are extensively bred for disease resistances, heat tolerances, pest resistances, harvestability (ha I think I just made this word up!), etc etc.... It is difficult to produce the huge amount of seed that commercial producers would need with hybridization in horticultural crops (easier for the row and agronomic crops). Even those hard tasteless tomatoes you purchase in the store will actually produce a tasty, though firmer fleshed, tomato when grown in the home garden and allowed to ripen on the vine. They also have great storage capacity....

Again, as with the peppers, egg plants do like a lot of heat to germinate. Also, green bell peppers, are just red bell peppers before they are ripe. So it's possible the green bell's you harvested seed from were not mature enough yet for the seed to be viable.

In terms of the cucurbits, though yes techincally they can outcross, in general they are grown in such huge fields the chance of an outcross with another variety is small. Though possible. Worth a try though, you never know you might get something you like even better.

I've had pretty good success with this so far. Some things like cucumbers obviously aren't ripe enough for the seed to be viable. But if the seed coat in your veg appears hardened it is generally ripe enough to save.

Give it a try!

 

[Lavender2]

Wait...what??

I can plant those green onion root tips and get more plants???

:tools

...That's exactly what I said!
My DH still gloats about his green onion root bet.
Years ago we were making a big New Years Chinese dinner for the family, lotsa green onions. He put the onion roots in a sandwich bag for me to plant in Spring ... of course I thought he was nuts ... no way would they last in the fridge for 4 months!

Ha! He stuck them in the dirt in early May and was harvesting tops about 4 weeks later ... and I got

 

[wifezilla]

LOLOL Too funny!

Great information you two. Thanks!

I knew I could reproduce garlic and I am getting some soil ready for that now. I also knew about ginger and potato eyes. I did not know those green onion tops were "reusable" I will never throw them out again!

I had a bunch of potatoes my neighbor gave me. They were sprouting eyes and she didn't know if the ducks would eat them or not. I tell her to bring everything over because even if the ducks wont eat it, it goes in the compost bin. The ducks wont eat them, so I put them in the bottom of a growing bed and put dirt and duck compost on top of them. If I get potatoes next year....fantastic. If not, no biggie

 

[meriruka1]

I always buy my pototoes, garlic & shallots for planting from a store that sells organic produce (usually Whole Foods). That way you know the stuff has not been treated with anything (or irradiated) to retard growth & no pesticides or chemicals are on them either. It is much less expensive to buy from the store than a seed catalog.

I use tons of basil and am too impatient to wait for it to sprout from seed, so I buy the hydroponic basil (comes in a plastic bag w/ water & roots at the bottom) pop that right in the dirt & it grows beautifully. I saved seed from it and it did pretty well last season.

 

[journey11]

I didn't know that about the green onions either and I will definitely try it. Being second year, I would imagine you could get them to go to seed too. I have a yellow onion that sprouted on me and I'm going to stick it in the ground and see if I can get it to make seed too. A lot of things like onions, garlic, carrots, parsley, etc will go to seed the second year. A little more time invested, but free seed.

 

[HiDelight]

when I lived in the southwest I did wonderfully with the chiles I found in the markets ..the dried reds I just took the seeds out of the ones I loved best and grew chiles! ..I know most were hybrids but I did come out with some wonderful chiles in the end ..

here I struggle with peppers in general but have grown a pot of thai chiles from a market dried red chile pepper

this year I am trying some market piquins in a pot just for the heck of it and a little orange gumball looking pepper..my friend bought the plant and I stole a couple of the peppers dried them and am trying to get them to sprout as we speak

I do not know if you can/or want to eat these but they are a little chile of some type

kind of the same but different you can use the already dried seeds and beans in the market (I go to a COOP where the seeds and beans are "organic" and buy in bulk so with so many why not give it a try?) ..but I have also just used what I have found in larger grocery chains as kind of an experiment ..when you buy them for food you can plant a few to eat ..and yes some are also hybrid so as DigitS says you can put a lot of work in and get no reward

but so far the following have come true for me

(hopefully not too off topic)

I grow mustard greens from whole black and yellow mustard seeds...fennel from fennel seeds ...I grow cilantro from coriander seeds and ended up with a better plant that I could have imagined! ..I have grown pintos from a bag of pinto beans
(in the southwest I grew garbanzos from garbanzos here I can just sprout them but have had no luck growing the plants) ..I have grown cumin from cumin seeds...lentils are easy to grow just from whole lentils and I love dahl so it has been fun growing really pretty lentils from differing dahls I have found over the years...(struggle with them here however but have done it!)

..he grocery store is a great place to find some cool garlic ..sometimes they get shipments in of locally grown varieties that plant a grow beautifully
also ginger grows well from the market if it is not waxed or stuck in a growth inhibiter (if you see a growing bud just grab that piece and put it in a pot)
I have mentioned these things all over the board so I guess I am rambling sorry
but also lemon grass makes a wonderful plant just peel the outer layer off and stick in a glass of water to root


OH OH I almost forgot ..cuttings ..when you see fresh herbs cress or anything with a little branch or root .. you can sometimes root them at home

last one (I adore this subject)

Cranberries make a plant if you plant the dried seeds! but I have not gotten on to maturity yet

again sorry if I rambled off topic ..I am always looking for things to root and plant when I am shopping!

 

[Ladyhawke1]

I always buy my pototoes, garlic & shallots for planting from a store that sells organic produce (usually Whole Foods). That way you know the stuff has not been treated with anything (or irradiated) to retard growth & no pesticides or chemicals are on them either. It is much less expensive to buy from the store than a seed catalog.

I use tons of basil and am too impatient to wait for it to sprout from seed, so I buy the hydroponic basil (comes in a plastic bag w/ water & roots at the bottom) pop that right in the dirt & it grows beautifully. I saved seed from it and it did pretty well last season.

This is what I was going to say. Buy organic. So what if it costs a little more. I want local and I want a safer product. It is time that seriousness of our food choices take root so to speak.

By the way Home Depot had a great started Basil last year. Mine was the Genovese type. It had no problems and it grew to three feet and the bees loved it. I shared a lot of it with friends.

You would be suprised at how many non-gardening people get so excited to have someone give them "free" herbs. Then their husbands want them to ask for more for the cooking pot. The only thing is, I was not sure if it was organic or not. So much for my "pledge". do'oh!

 

[wifezilla]

Got basil last year and left it in a pot. Brought it in and I have had basil all winter. Plant is still going strong. I did the same thing with 2 pepper plants. I have some hot peppers ripening right now

I had no clue they would overwinter. It will be interesting to see how they do once I get them back outside.