Seed from the grocery store

[ottawagardener]

Okay, dish it: What have you started from the grocery store.

Plant propogation:

Mint
Horseradish
Garlic (best from local farmer's market)
Shallots
Green onions

Seed:

Flax
Mustard
Dill
Fennel
Lentils
Beans
Squash - spaghetti did very well
Scotch bonnet hot pepper
Poppy

This year I plan on trying some biennials roots to grow for seed.

[ceara]

I tried garlic but they died. The only seeds that worked for me from the store were cherry tomatoes.

[ottawagardener]

I did garlic once from a box store and it didn't do well but the local farmer's market garlic is my mainstay for adding to my planting stock.

I forgot that I've also done:

Watermelon from farmer's market
Sweet Potato but just as a vine. My regular varieties are short season.

[peapod]

I have not been able to plant yet this season due to the fridgid temps. BUT last year I planted

Fennel seed
Sweet Basil
Onion
Flax
Sweet Potatoes
Tomato
Mini Bell Peppers
and
Beans

[canadamike]

Telsing: I just bought ginger roots at the store to grow them. a friend does it and it works beautifully. The plants are huge I am told.I gorgot to buy the chayotes, stupid me!!! I did get super huge and still fresh root parsley with very healthy leaves, so I fell like getting it to seed, but then I had the bad Idea to taste them I am afraid they won't survive the week end ;D

One thing I will do for sure: I will grow the yellow peas from the store, I prefer them by far to the ones I got from Homestead Organics.

Grungy, I'll get you some to put in your mailing, wich is quietly waiting on the floor of my garage since I am quietly expecting some goodies you will quietly grow soon

[oldfatguy]

I went to an upscale grocery store and got one pepino melon and one of those horney melons. The Pepino tasted pretty good so I saved the seed and now have five plants. They take two years to bear fruit so it's just one more thing to lug down into the basement before the first frost.
As far as those horny melons go, they are the worst excuse for a melon I've ever seen. Nothing but seeds. Imagine tomato seeds with the membrain around them, well, multply the size by 75 and color them a poop green and there you go...horny melon. Didn't make me horny, just nauseous.
I have Horseradish and Ginger plants from the store also. I was reading that some of your more rare beans in the United States come from different countries and they are open pollinated and very good. They went so far as to say thet we should grab them and grow them because we may not beable to get the for much longer. I'm looking.

[grungy]

Michel, do you mean that when you mailing arrives, I can't run around pulling my hair and going "Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, and where does he expect me to plant, THIS?"

[canadamike]

Excellent idea, why don't you do it. You'll find plenty of accomplices here. If you get some, I suggest you ask a friend here to grow some of the seeds with you. If something bad happens to one of you the other is a good back up.

A wind gust took care ofmy small greenhouse and all the rare wild alliums I got from Grin, the USA genebank. Luckily, I had divided all of them in 9 parts, so lots of back up around.

I really love this idea of going to upscale food store and use them as a seed source. With many of the so called ''ethnic'' foods, it might be the hell of a good source...

[barkingdog]

I've successfully grown sweet peppers from store bought fruit. The ones that I have saved our a mini orange sweet pepper called Sweetbite and a long red one called Ramira.

I'm not sure if they are actual varieties or supermarket made up names! They germinate well though and taste good!

bd

[grungy]

Michel, please read your private messages re: alliums.

[canadamike]

No alliums message made it to me, Grungy...

[ottawagardener]

Grungy: I hear ya.

[jason]

This is a kind of interesting article about those mini sweet peppers:

www.liseed.org/fingerpepper.html

I'm growing some garlic I got in an organic bin at the store, I think it is from washington and soft neck, hopefully will do okay.

I have an older book about a guy who grew all kinds of fruit and vegetables from store seeds, mostly as house plants. If that is something you are into there are a lot of possibilities.

[elkwc36]

I've grown garlic, potatoes and beans from grocery store seeds. This year I have a pepper growing from some called Hatch chiles Hot. It is doing fine so far. Maybe a hybrid. Will know more what I have after I see the fruit. The address on the bag was Hatch, NM. Jay

[bunkie]

i've grown herbs, beans, horseradish, garlic, squash, rice, potatoes and sweet, pineapple, and lemons from store seeds. i also have messd around alot with sticking the end of a celery bunch on a little water and it grew leaves all winter that we ate! have done the same with large carrot ends! have never done melons or peppers...yet.

jason, that's a very interesting article, and scary. i guess it is really important to have the genetically modified labels put on the produce...what a legal mess!