Each year, the garden with various species and varieties of flowering plants provides us with many beautiful impressions. The source of plant life is the seeds that form in the place of pollinated flowers.Moved by insects or the wind, they can cause plants to flourish in other parts of the garden next year.This natural spread of plants has a major disadvantage.
Self-growing plants rarely take positions that correspond to our ideas. There are times when we have to treat them like weeds.An alternative is sowing seeds in predetermined places, in accordance with the planned arrangement. In this case, collecting seeds from your own crops helps a lot. We will sow them next year in flower beds, flower beds, pots or in a flower meadow.
We start collecting seeds after the flowering period. You just have to wait for the seed heads to mature and dry. If you are dealing with plants with light seeds, easily fluttering or seed scattering fruits, immediately after flowering, cover the seed heads with cotton or paper bags. In this way, we will hinder the uncontrolled expansion of the plants and provide the seeds with protection from hungry birds and other animals.To prevent the seeds from becoming moldy during storage, it is best to harvest them on dry days.
Bags made of opaque paper are perfect for storing seeds. We can also use old black plastic photo film containers. Store the protected seeds in a dry place as they easily absorb moisture and germinate prematurely. Seeds thoroughly dried on a cotton cloth or a sheet of paper can be stored for up to three years.The sowing time depends on the plant. We sow poppy seeds and lesser spotted eagle seeds in autumn, while all others sprout best in spring.
When sowing, we will avoid mistakes if we describe the collected seeds.It is enough if we put the name of the plant and the date of harvest on each bag or container.This way we will know not only what plants will please us in the next season, but also when to plant them.
Lettuce propagation
Lettuce varieties are mostly biennial. If the plants are not harvested in time, they will sprout a single flower. We cover the flowering plant with gauze so that the next generation will retain the characteristics of the variety.After pollinating the flowers, collect the seeds when they are ripe (the baskets have white cans) and dry.Exceptions are plants of special varieties - F1 hybrids.Propagated from seeds, they do not retain their parents' most important qualities.
