Growing from seed

Ash

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This may be a small matter to some of you well seasoned green thumbs, but I have had my first batch of successful seedlings grown from seed. Some have been packed for 2 years whilst I was not won with the seeds last year. How have others gone this spring?
 

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Steve

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They look like some healthy seedlings @Ash

I must admit that I haven't been in a position to plan ahead as much as I'd like.
I dont have proper garden beds in yet so there wasn't much point growing any seedlings.
I do have a herb bed that I threw some carrot seeds in some spare space which did ok. I don't think I thinned them out enough in hindsight.
Despite having heaps of land now I've reverted to throwing some tomatoes in pots again just so I get something tasty later this year.
I just have no idea where my time goes....:dunno:
 

Ash

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Thanks Steve. It is such a challenge to fit it all in, and the land/tending to trees/plants requires more time than what is available. We've just had some rain and a cold front sweep through, so it may just take care of itself for the next week or so...
 

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How have others gone this spring?
Good to see you're still keeping up your interest in food gardening Ash.

But I have to say, what spring? We seemed to have skipped spring and gone straight to summer!

I sowed some tomatoes and beans (directly) and they were doing ok until this heat hit, although this latest rain has helped bring the temps down a little to normal spring averages.
 

Ash

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We've had quite the temperate winter, without the cold wind for most of it, but it came as a shock in early spring, then the heat set in and the dry weather continued until the weekend. We didn't get a great deal, so we need a follow up rain but I'm bracing to see what will happen this summer...
 

Mataeka

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I managed to get cabbage seeds that expired 2 years ago to sprout randomly heh. Next question is whether I can keep them alive or not ;)
 

Ash

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Cabbage is a nice easy grow with not too many pests. They’re not a bad veggie for eating raw or cooked. Perhaps not the most popular but nice and healthy all the same.
 

ClissAT

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Ash, getting those seedlings up is a great success. I wish you well keeping them going.
The way the weather is going this year I think I will only be growing veg under shade cloth.
So I have not even thought about seedlings. I may just buy a few punnets at Bunnings.
Depends on how the spring/summer shapes up, as well as how much rain we get here.
 

Amanda

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I’ve got a bunch of different tomatoes, some eggplants (4 varieties), Immali corn, okra, beans, basil, Thai basil, pumpkins, cucumbers, watermelon, chillies, asparagus and capsicum seeds planted. I’ve just moved our sweet potato into a warmer bed and my husband has planted our Shiraz vines. We’ve had a very productive start to spring!
 

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Mataeka

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Cabbage is a nice easy grow with not too many pests. They’re not a bad veggie for eating raw or cooked. Perhaps not the most popular but nice and healthy all the same.
Yeah I've had a sudden reinvigorated interest in cabbage - a good fresh one tastes great raw - even better cooked with butter and garlic yum! I've been wanting to get around to making sauerkraut at some point too. Still mildly scared of giving myself food poisoning though heh.
 

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Still mildly scared of giving myself food poisoning though heh.
Noooo, like I've said before don't worry about food poisoning when fermenting vegetables because it's highly unlikely :)

I think I might sow another crop of cucumbers - it's risky because summers on the way but I have noticed a few self-seeded cucs popping up now in the garden so perhaps it might be ok... I love pushing the limits!
 

Steve

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Actually, I threw some papaya seeds into a seed tray a couple of months back and hoped for the best.
The papaya were bought from the local vegi shop so I didn't hold much hope.
From the 20-30 or so seeds I sowed there were 4 that stood up.
I kept them in the little seedling pots hoping they would get some height but they stayed at about 4-5cm.

I hoped for the best and threw them in some bigger pots and all seems to have survived.

I already have one papaya plant from a nursery but I've love a few more. Fingers crossed.....
 

ClissAT

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Don't be surprised if they are all males, Steve.
My experience from attempting to grow pawpaws from seed many times over many years is even if you start with the seed from the fruit of a bisexual tree, you are most likely to get male seedlings.
The problem is that you have to nurture & feed the hungry rotten things for many months until they mature to see what sort of flowers they throw out to tell whether they are male, female or bisexual.
Pretty much 9 out of 10 of the strongest plants will be males.
So once your seedlings are up wait a couple of weeks then pull out all the tall strong ones & throw them away.
Think about what happens when in the wild, a fruit falls to the ground & rots to allow the seeds to germinate.
I think nature causes the males to germinate first & be strong so they grow tall & mature first so their flowers are regularly attracting pollinators such as bees before the female flowers on the smaller plants are ready.
 

Sherry Robitson

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Good to see you're still keeping up your interest in food gardening Ash.

But I have to say, what spring? We seemed to have skipped spring and gone straight to summer!

I sowed some tomatoes and beans (directly) and they were doing ok until this heat hit, although this latest rain has helped bring the temps down a little to normal spring averages.
In Texas it gets hot so fast, I think our seasons are summer, summer, summer, Christmas...summer, summer,summer, Christmas. After July 4 tomatoes are over with, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants from seed are are started in January in the house or in a greenhouse.
 

Robyn67

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ha ha Sherry, that's funny. I'm the opposite, winter most of the year.

Apart from the middle of winter, it does allow growing of winter vegetable like potatoes & peas and all the stone fruits.
 

Ash

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Haha. Climate tends to determine what we end up growing and trying to grow, so for us here in this interesting winter (that was like spring) and spring (that became winter) we've had some confused veggies but being inattentive to pests in my area I've had either bandicoots or possums decimate the broccoli and cabbage, leaving us with close to nothing useful.
 

Sherry Robitson

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Haha. Climate tends to determine what we end up growing and trying to grow, so for us here in this interesting winter (that was like spring) and spring (that became winter) we've had some confused veggies but being inattentive to pests in my area I've had either bandicoots or possums decimate the broccoli and cabbage, leaving us with close to nothing useful.
I love to grow squash, but the last few winters have not provided enough freeze to kill out pests in the ground thus squash borers have gotten uncontrollable. It’s very frustrating!
ha ha Sherry, that's funny. I'm the opposite, winter most of the year.

Apart from the middle of winter, it does allow growing of winter vegetable like potatoes & peas and all the stone fruits.
i live in peach growing country but because of drought conditions and lack of chill hours the last few years, peach crops are suffering badly. As a matter of fact commercial growers are turning to growing grapes. Wineries are popping up everywhere!
 

Robyn67

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Gosh thats bad Sherry. We had a very dry winter this year and all our fruit trees and our neighbours are not producing much at all - well the apples seem ok, but apricots hardly any, no cherries, only a couple of plums. Last year was another story, everyone had a bumper crop.
 

ClissAT

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Another reason crops seem not to produce is the extreme lack of bees now that there are so many sprays being used on crops.
People will soon realise this type of low production has become the norm.
Right now though, people are more inclined to blame everything else but in a few years there will be nothing else to blame other than a failure of the crop to pollinate.
It is so bad in many parts of Australia already that an organic farmers must have their own bee hives because there are none living in the general vicinity because they get killed flying over neighbouring sprayed crops where they also feed.
The govt has relaxed the buffer zone distances to almost zero so overspray gets onto the organic crops plus the bees fly across fence lines to feed on the sprayed crops.
Some people say flies will do the pollination but they are also being killed by the same sprays.
 

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I’ve grown some stuff from seed with pretty good results but not as many as I would like so I’ve bought some seedlings from Bunnings as well. It’s not that I can’t grow from seeds it’s getting the timing right for starting them and the time. As Mark said spring umm summer hit quick so it’s like ahh I need these in now.

One thing I haven’t been able to get growing from seed is Warrigal Greens. I’ve soaked them overnight etc and nothing.

Also I’m running down my summer crops. I’m not growing as much as I did last year as the heat nearly killed me, bagging up tomatoes and the like dripping sweat. So I’m just keeping a few beds going on what we will actually eat over the warmer months, nothing extra for preserving . Also saves on water.
 
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