You see I've known for ages that you can bung an onion back into the soil after it has been harvested and stored and it will start growing again and go on to produce viable seed.
So when I came home from the supermarket with a hand full of purple dutch carrots I had a flash of inspiration and thought to myself, 'I wonder if I bung a couple of these back into the soil if they would start growing again and go on to produce viable seed?'
So I bunged them into the soil never expecting anything to happen except for them to go rotten in the ground.
These are carrots that were harvested I don't know how long ago and they have been kept in cold storage for I don't know how long hence my low expectations. But as you can see from the photo this is the result about four or five (I didn't make a note of when I planted them) weeks later and they are looking like they will go on to produce seed which I'll then use to plant more of these yummy carrots.
For me all I can say is if you don't know if something will or won't work at least give it a go and see what happens, you might be surprised like I have been.
If you stumble across this post then you can click here for a progress report.
Cheers and here's to heaps of purple dutch carrot seeds,
Stewart.
9 comments:
Wow! What a great idea for sourcing seeds.
Although I am not that surprised. I pulled out some monstrous woody heirloom carrots a while ago and chucked them on the compost. When i was getting some compost for the garden yesterday, I unearthed them...they had put up shoots, reaching for the light.
I have a new found respect for carrots now. Tough little veggies they are.
That's amazing. I had never thought to even try putting a carrot back into the ground. I hope you are rewarded with lots of good seed.
Me neither Missy, until that day, and I thought why not? So far so good. Thank-you.
That's also a good way to store any root veg that you haven't room for in the fridge. Spring onions are BEST stored this way, they don't go "slimey" like they do under refrigeration.
Thanks Olive a good idea, and yes I've replanted store bought spring onions in to the garden and just go out and pick what I need.
cool! I may start leaving a carrot or two in the ground to experiment myself. I have a little arugula bed that I always let a few go to seed. I've never had to re-plant it!
Yes, those arugula are the king of self sowing.
http://stewarts-vg.blogspot.com/2011/11/purple-dutch-carrot-progress.html Here's a link to the latest progress on the purple dutch carrots I planted
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