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Sprouting Seeds

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Recycled1

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
3,278
When shopping in my local Co-op,the assistant said "Do you garden?Would you like some seeds?" I said "Yes please" and was given several packets.
I'm guessing they would have been given free with old unsold gardening magazines.

Anyway, they are mainly 'salad leaf' vegetables (disappointing!) and I have no room to grow veg in my tiny garden.
I'm wondering if I could grow them on the window ledge like we used to grow mustard and cress on blotting paper when I was a child.
I could eat them when they were just new little shoots, not fully grown.

I've kept my latest large mushroom tray from the supermarket -what could I use instead of soil? (I don't have blotting paper knocking around these days!)
 
Yesterday found this little sproutling in a sink in one of the Chemistry research labs that had been shut during the lock-down. Guess any adversity can be overcome with a little perseverance and optimism.

Perseverance1.jpg
 
On our bike rides I pick up cones that have fallen from the trees and put them in a tub of compost in t'garden. You're supposed to lie them on their sides and wait for them to sprout and then plant them out.
Haven't seen any growth yet but I live in hope!
 
Back in t'Seventies there was a fad for growing one's own beansprouts. All you need were a jar, an elastic band, a scrap of muslin and a handful of mung beans to become completely self-sufficient in this nourishing high-protein wonder-food.

What you actually got was a slimy stinking mass of rotting vegetation. I'd do everything the book said, especially rinsing the seeds/sprouts every day, but they always went off before I could eat them.
 
escargot said:
Back in t'Seventies there was a fad for growing one's own beansprouts. All you need were a jar, an elastic band, a scrap of muslin and a handful of mung beans to become completely self-sufficient in this nourishing high-protein wonder-food.

What you actually got was a slimy stinking mass of rotting vegetation. I'd do everything the book said, especially rinsing the seeds/sprouts every day, but they always went off before I could eat them.
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My Dad got into that. It was a fad. We got thoroughly sick of beansprouts and cress.
No problems with growing them that I can remember.
 
escargot said:
On our bike rides I pick up cones that have fallen from the trees and put them in a tub of compost in t'garden. You're supposed to lie them on their sides and wait for them to sprout and then plant them out.
Haven't seen any growth yet but I live in hope!
Click to expand...
Perhaps they need some cold treatment to start. Some seeds only sprout after a period of cold and/or snow cover.
 
Recycled1 said:
When shopping in my local Co-op,the assistant said "Do you garden?Would you like some seeds?" I said "Yes please" and was given several packets.
I'm guessing they would have been given free with old unsold gardening magazines.

Anyway, they are mainly 'salad leaf' vegetables (disappointing!) and I have no room to grow veg in my tiny garden.
I'm wondering if I could grow them on the window ledge like we used to grow mustard and cress on blotting paper when I was a child.
I could eat them when they were just new little shoots, not fully grown.

I've kept my latest large mushroom tray from the supermarket -what could I use instead of soil? (I don't have blotting paper knocking around these days!)
Click to expand...
Paper towel?
Also you could be able to grow a window garden. I've not done it, but salad greens usually require little space as long as you have light.
 
Recycled1 said:
When shopping in my local Co-op,the assistant said "Do you garden?Would you like some seeds?" I said "Yes please" and was given several packets.
I'm guessing they would have been given free with old unsold gardening magazines.

Anyway, they are mainly 'salad leaf' vegetables (disappointing!) and I have no room to grow veg in my tiny garden.
I'm wondering if I could grow them on the window ledge like we used to grow mustard and cress on blotting paper when I was a child.
I could eat them when they were just new little shoots, not fully grown.

I've kept my latest large mushroom tray from the supermarket -what could I use instead of soil? (I don't have blotting paper knocking around these days!)
Click to expand...
Kitchen roll
 
Yes, I've set up my hydroponic system on the kitchen window ledge
i.e. wet duster with kitchen roll on top, in the empty mushroom box.
I've put another piece of kitchen roll over the top of the box, because I know cress used to like being dark, just until it started to germinate.

I will let you know whether it works!
 
Recycled1 said:
Yes, I've set up my hydroponic system on the kitchen window ledge
i.e. wet duster with kitchen roll on top, in the empty mushroom box.
I've put another piece of kitchen roll over the top of the box, because I know cress used to like being dark, just until it started to germinate.

I will let you know whether it works!
Click to expand...
Please don’t use the word HYDROPONICS on here. We are closely monitored by more than the men in black and we need to exhibit EXTREME CAUTION!
 
Tempest63 said:
Please don’t use the word HYDROPONICS on here. We are closely monitored by more than the men in black and we need to exhibit EXTREME CAUTION!
Click to expand...

Too late ... Hydroponics has been mentioned repeatedly on this forum dating back to 2003 and the appearance of hydroponic kit advertisements in Fortean Times. If there's dirt to be gathered on those who cite gardening without dirt it's been gathered by now.
:evillaugh:
 
If you've ever seen the film Saturn 5, you'll know Kirk Douglas was a big fan of hydroponics.
 
Recycled1 said:
When shopping in my local Co-op,the assistant said "Do you garden?Would you like some seeds?" I said "Yes please" and was given several packets.
I'm guessing they would have been given free with old unsold gardening magazines.

Anyway, they are mainly 'salad leaf' vegetables (disappointing!) and I have no room to grow veg in my tiny garden.
I'm wondering if I could grow them on the window ledge like we used to grow mustard and cress on blotting paper when I was a child.
I could eat them when they were just new little shoots, not fully grown.

I've kept my latest large mushroom tray from the supermarket -what could I use instead of soil? (I don't have blotting paper knocking around these days!)
Click to expand...

The thought of a packet of seeds reminds me of a famous limerick which always, always makes me laugh!
 
Frideswide said:
come on then! pretty please!
Click to expand...

There are several versions. This is the one that tickled me most.

There once was a farmer from Leeds
Who swallowed a packet of seeds.
In twenty-four hours
His nob had grown flowers
And his bum was all covered with weeds!

(Various anatomical features may be substituted with varying effects upon the overall tone of the piece, depending on the maturity of the audience.)
 
I will say this to my niece :) using Nose and Toes to give a pleasing internal rhyme :rollingw:
 
Frideswide said:
I will say this to my niece :) using Nose and Toes to give a pleasing internal rhyme :rollingw:
Click to expand...

Like this?

There once was a farmer from Leeds
Who swallowed a packet of seeds.
His nose and toes
Grew flowers in rows
And his bum was all covered with weeds!

:evillaugh:

(The point of the limerick in about 1974 was to torture poor Farmer Giles with the most inconvenient and painful combination possible, while maintaining the internal limerick logic.)
 
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