Free Seeding Project

Wildbillnye

Deuem wrote:

Bill, the only problem is I am 10,000 miles from Maine. I need some stuff a lot closer then there. I have camped there in the past and we always picked wild blueberries for the pancakes the next morning. Good stuff, nice place. Saw a moose and took my first lake plane ride. The one with floats. Have fished a lot of the coast there and like the fresh lobster. Need to get back there some day.

my vacation land, lol.

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Deuem

Ok, Next time you are there get some of those nice big moose seeds. They will grow.

LazyK

I do like sneaking into my Mother In Laws garden and planting odd varieties of plants she grows without telling her...does that count? White radishes...giant pumpkins...red onions in her white ones... It drives her nuts but it's sooooo much fun! I have scattered sunflowers down their driveway too... Just never thought about fruiting plants.

Yes I live in the shade of Monsanto with neighbors being fined for having stored seeds from crops (grown on their own land) that were cross pollinated by local bees.... You can't control bees! Seriously people.... The GMO is the reason we stopped farming wheat and stick to Hay now.

So off to load a seed bag for my truck. Will try this.

Deuem

LazyK, having fun huh. Sounds fun. Humm, I thought I planted tomatoes there!
And they were just storing seed from their own crop. Wow, tell Monsanto to go arrest the bees.

Should I take it that hay does not need bees. Self pollinates or ? Never grew it so I have no idea.

I would try sun flowers but I can only get them baked. need to find some real ones that would grow. I like the driveway deal and I could think of a few to do..lol

Wildbillnye

Deuem wrote:

LazyK, having fun huh. Sounds fun. Humm, I thought I planted tomatoes there!
And they were just storing seed from their own crop. Wow, tell Monsanto to go arrest the bees.

Should I take it that hay does not need bees. Self pollinates or ? Never grew it so I have no idea.

I would try sun flowers but I can only get them baked. need to find some real ones that would grow. I like the driveway deal and I could think of a few to do..lol

do they have bird or rodent feed with sunflowers? that's where I get them.

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Deuem

Ok, they sell tons of birds at the market, I will venture into the jungle next visit and find out. I know they sell a lot of seed for birds.

Gingerbread Man

Deuem wrote:

Good for all involved Gurkan.

I once was asked to make a donation to the local village and I didn't want to give them cash. I knew it would go in a greedy pocket and the village would never see it. So I bought them trees instead. It ended up being about a dozen of them for the same money. Planted and watered for a month. The trees are still there, the money would have been gone in a heartbeat. Now if we can all pay our taxes in trees, the politics would change for sure.

Deuem, if people valued trees, even a fraction, like they value the printed pieces of paper we are forced to accumulate to pay the taxes on our labour property and gardens, it would be a very different world indeed, I think.

Food&Fish wrote:

Around here there are a few apple and plum trees I know of two other places m that have as asparagus growing on the road side near myrtleford theres oranges on the side of the great alpine road [ I remember the old house being there ]
Theres BlackBerrys every where
I am about to start planting the front yard with fruit trees
At my age I wont see much benefit but I hope others will

F&F, an old greek proverb has been in the forefront of my thoughts several times of late.

'A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.'

It would seem that you are intent on leaving a great society, unlike those who seem to strip all wealth that they can find, and sequester it away in enclaves of like minded robber barons.

Tradition used to dictate that fruit and nut trees were planted along a hedgerow or fenceline, and that which hung across the path/trail/road was for the benefit of the traveller who may be in need. It seems to me that we as creators have the ability to actually generate wealth/success/dinner, without being limited to simply transferring (or extorting, or stealing) wealth from one person to another. Unfortunately, few of us put much effort or energy into a paradigm of greatness, rather we focus on personal success. For many it seems that the success is ever sweeter if it comes at another's expense.

/rant
Let me add that I am in no way a supporter of entitlement or social redistribution, just fair and even application of a rule of law without government capture by private interests, or government protection, pro- or retroactive.

Deuem

Gingerbread man, I like the hedge rows or streets all to be covered with fruit or nut trees like you said. All of our trees just have worthless leaves on them we can not eat. I can remember the old days when almost every tree in our area grew something. They since pulled them all out because of the mess they made on the ground. So it became clean or eat. More likely it had something to do with homeless people coming into the area to get food. So now even the birds are hungry and there are many less of them in the city.

Mango pits grow into trees in about 3 years and fruit in 5 or so. Stupid simple to do. If anyone eats them, Don't waste the pit. My wife did one at our old shop and the poor people would come by and pick them off. We never ate even one but that was OK. Then the new owners ripped it out and made firewood. It was the only shade out back. I think they just hated trees. Or didn't know what it was. They should have least have sold it. At that age it was worth around 600 bucks. 10 in firewood. Stupid decision.

LazyK

Yes speaking of trees I have received and supported Arbor days for years..then after a flash flood tried to apply to be a recipient of those people they help by planting trees... No luck for the last six years... So I'm not sure where they donate to but it's NOT the lay person. I have over 600 acres that I'd love hedge rowed and treed... But amazingly you have to do it yourself. I've been trying to start trees in my system from fallen branches but no luck...not yet at least...

Ps planted 3 rows of sweet corn and white watermelon radishes in the MIL garden yesterday. Then threw out about six packs of random flowers in her grass border that she doesn't mow. Hopefully some will come up. :flower:

Deuem

Try cutting into the branch and adding a bag of wet dirt so roots will form there. Splice it off after roots have formed. Once it is off the tree I have only been able to start one tree this way and I stuck it in a mud clay that was very wet. Some trees here will grow if a branch hits the ground right. Just Keep it wet.

ND is not that cold is it? Would any tree grow? I grew a lechee tree in new England from pits I brought home once. nice broad tree with fun branches to climb all over. You might be able to buy the fruit there. One fruit, one pit the size of a small marble. It will take some cold but not freezing.

At the moment I am not having any luck growing any trees from seeds or pits using the AP methods. Too much water and they all rot on me. Maybe a flood and drain would work for them. needs more work. Can you get or send away for pine seedlings. They grow pretty fast. I guess they figure if you have that many acres you can buy and plant your own trees.

As soon as the flowers come up, it will get mowed. Any bets?

LazyK

I will try the rooting...
Ha yes I'll sadly agree it will be mowed...my luck!

Deuem

I have even seen this here, where there seem like hundreds of baggies attached to the trees to get cuttings.

Raise the mover blade. lol Or remove it. The flowers will love you.

Gingerbread Man

LazyK, remember that there is truth to the johny appleseed myth. Scion wood either would not have made it through the boat trips to the new world. or took up too much space. Almost all of the named varietes that you might eat now grew from seed, which is a dice roll every time. Perhaps 3/4 or more of the trees will be crabapple like, 1/4 or less edible, 1/25 or 1/50 exceptional. But saving and planting apple/pear/grape, and other seeds is free, and you can always cut it for smoking or fire wood if it is not edible. IIRC, some but not all prunus (peach/plum/apricot/almond) will grow true to variety, but even so, the investment is nil. There is video from someone in wales, i think, on youtube in which he is doing exactly these things for hedgerows, as well as sticking cuttings of anything he can try into soil, mostly just grids of (many) holes punched into the top of a cheap bag of garden soil/ manure. Throw down 3or4 dollar bag, water a little, and start sticking cuttings in. Got more cuttings? Punch more holes in bag, insert cuttings. Fast, easy, and he had some success.

Gingerbread Man

And to come fully back to topic, I have used all sorts of grocery store seeds for this sort of guerrilla gardening.

I've started or grown inside ( not frost hardy) mango, avocado, starfruit/carambola, dragonfruit/pitahaya, lychee, guava, passion fruit, papaya, and pineapple. pineapple is the only one I've eaten fruit from. :headbang:

Outside, in my yard or elsewhere i've planted seeds from almost any hardy fruit/vegetable with seeds. Peppers sweet and hot. I was surprised, these seem to come true or close to the parent fruit. Tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, pumpkin, others I'm sure I cant remember.
Also, potatoes that are growing eyes can be planted, ginger and turmeric and haldi have all grown from store bought root bits, sweet potatoes/yams as well, and chickpeas/lentils/lima/broad beans have all grown for me from grocery store food packages, and seemed true or close to the parent plant. Also try berries. Wolfberries (goji) grew easily for me from dried berries purchased in the store. Most berry type fruits germinate well after fermenting, so as you pick out the dead/moldy berries from a package, these can be planted as is.
For guerilla gardening, don't forget that herbs are useful, edible, and pleasant, so adding a little snippet of rosemary or thyme, or oregano, or mint, depending on location/climate, or even tossing out a few mustard seeds/fenugreek seeds/cumin/fennel/dill/coriander(cilantro) from the spice cupboard, might enliven a border somewhere. Poppies also fall into this category, in my opinion. Attractive, grow in most climes, can be medicinal, and edible seeds if allowed to ripen. Unfortunately, I have not gotten storebought hemp to germinate, nor found a cheap source for viable seed, or I might be inclined to scatter it as well. :bootyshake:

Also, many plants generate a surprising amount of seed. I have over 2l (1/2 gallon) of kale seeds, even more Parsnip, almost as much rhubarb, probably one liter of ornamental snapdragons and lesser of other like plants. I pick up and save seeds from town/municipal/roadside planters, gardens abutting the roads I walk along, and almost anywhere else I pass by them. Sometimes I forget to label them, so I do have a small collection of mystery seeds. :think:

Deuem

We have this stuff here called black dirt. It is a black clay mixed with a million good things. Very hard to get. It is down deep and needs machines to bring it up, like in road work. Last time I had some, any thing stuck in it grew. Even a snapped branch off the tree next door. They need a lot of help to start if just a broke off branch. I would try the dirt pouches first, still on the tree. Much better odds. And for awhile only buy fruit that has seeds you can plant locally. About 3 weeks ago I snapped off a real small branch off a tree with a bud on it. To this day there are no roots but the bud is still green so there is hope. It was a stem with new growth so I cut if off and tried it in the AP water. Still waiting for roots to show up. The entire branch is about 3 inches long.

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