Frugal Gardening: Can You Use Store Bought Produce for Seeds?by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 07 Jan 2007 07:02 AM
One of the great ways to save on gardening is to save seeds you already have in your pantry or refrigerator. Using store bought produce seeds can be done, especially if you are armed with some tips. Not all store bought produce will yield variable seeds. Some produce produced and bought in stores today is sterile due to commercial growing techniques. How does a seedless watermelon reproduce anyway? Your best success is probably with produce bought at local farm stands. Here are some tips for growing two different plants from common store- and stand-bought produce. Pumpkins Pumpkins are a lot of fun to grow, especially for kids. They signal the fall season and are fun to watch. Some years ago, when I lived in Old Lyme, Connecticut, I planted the seeds from a halloween/fall pumpkin that was bought from a farm stand. I was delighted when the seeds took hold and grew into lovely flowered vines. The large yellow flowers were promising, and I looked forward to finding baby pumpkins. In a while the flowers closed and died off, but not a single pumpkin was to be found. Later I found out why and learned my very first gardening lesson. The seeds I planted were all female plants. Without a male plant anywhere near to fertilize the flowers, I was pumpkin-less. The next year, I mixed the seeds of five different pumpkins (I wasn't taking any chances) and had great success. Avocados I wouldn't recommend trying to grow an avocado unless you are doing it as a fun learning project for kids (to watch the pit grow). The avocado pit will probably produce a nice decorative tree, but forget about the fruit. Avocado plants take seven years to start producing a avocado, and the conditions they needs to bear fruit are pretty tricky. Even if you do manage to get an avocado from your home-grown tree, be aware that it might be pretty inferior. This is because commercial growers usually graft plants for production. They might graft a nice and tasty fruit that is delicate onto a a sturdy, disease resistant root stock, for example. What do you think of this article? Would you like to see more information about growing plants from bought produce? Related Articles: Frugal Gardening: Make Your Own Seed-Starting Pots Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments  Linda Hansen (1796) 07 Jan 2007 05:37 PMYes. I am an avid gardener and every spring start new plants from seed. I have had some success with produce in the store, but my best results are from someone else's garden. Informative article. Artcraft  Mary Ann Romans (26876) 07 Jan 2007 05:50 PMSwapping seeds or having a "friendship garden" is a wonderful way to be frugal! Thanks for the comment. Community Tags avocados, garden, produce, pumpkins, seeds Discuss this article
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There is nothing more frugal than using what you have instead of buying new. That holds true for gardening, too.
