#11 Allow some flowers to produce seed. Collect and save seed, let the rest self sow freely.
#11 Allow some flowers to produce seed. Collect and save seed, let the rest self sow freely.
A Manifesto for Growing Cut Flowers
Manifesto
#11 Allow some flowers to produce seed. Collect and save seed, let the rest self sow freely.
Picking up on my manifesto for growing cut flowers, this last few months, there has been so much rain that I haven’t had to water at all, despite there being some days with no rain.
If you are new to my manifesto, there are other posts in the series -
Since writing making this set of rules, I have changed my soil and mulch practise. The manifesto needs revising and #6 editing. Funny what happens when you commit to a list but that’s growing innit?
Today is #11 Allow some flowers to produce seed. Collect and save seed, let the rest self sow freely.
Saving seed is not just a thrifty way to garden. It is an act of resistance. Furthermore, one of the fundamentals of growing a resilient garden. This item on the manifesto could be the most important one.
There are three parts to this one.
Allow some flowers to produce seed.
Collect and save seed.
Let the rest self sow freely.
Why would you only let some plants produce seed? Why is it so good to collect your own seed? and why self sown plants will be bigger and stronger.
1. Allow some flowers to produce seed.
The some is the crucial bit here. When flowers begin to flower, the last thing you want to do it allow any to go to seed. Why? Because that is the plants raison d’être. To produce seed and secure its offspring. Think like a flower, and why cutting flowers for arranging prolongs flowering in come and cut again plants. Once a plant produces seed, the flowering slows. So to begin with, cut all your flowers, and definitely snip off any deadheads.
Then, once the plant has naturally slowed in flowering, leave those buds and allow them to ripen, producing seed. Right now, this is what I am doing with sweet peas.
2. Collect and save seed.
Why would you collect seed?
It is estimated that about 90% of crops have been lost and globally, seed supply is in the hands of very few global companies. Independent seed sellers are few and far between. For annual and biennial plants, without collected seed, we simply can’t sow them. Perhaps, like me, you might be thinking ‘someone else will save the seed’ ‘it’s ok, they won’t actually run out’ but that kind of thinking is how we got into this problem. Most rancunulus corms in the UK come from one supplier. This reliance on one supplier does nothing to develop plants resistance. One poor harvest or a fungal disease would wipe out the current and future crops. They aren’t organically grown, who knows what sprays are used, how they affect our pollinators and wildlife.
These are questions to consider. Like a mother can be carrying the beginings (if a daughter) of her grandchildren. You were a tiny egg in your grandmothers womb! Likewise, the calendulas, foxgloves and cornflowers growing and blooming right now have their offspring swelling and maturing.
Plants matured in your gardens’ particular soil and your particular micro climate, will produce seeds uniquely primed to thrive in the same soil and climate. Those seeds will retain that information and strength, adapting to their specific conditions. Helping plants develop their own biological resistance to pests and diseases.
In saved seed, resilience and biosecurity is inherent, though perhaps not in the way the biggest global seed companies would like it to be.
Go out and collect seed from all your favourite plants. Store in old paper bags and envelopes and label. It isn’t as neat and smart as seeds in little wrapped packets but all the better for it.
3. Let the rest sow freely.
I often cite that plants that grown where they self sowed are stronger, larger better flowering plants that those we sowed in trays. It now makes sense that a seed from a packet just will not grow as well in sterilised bought in soil, in a pot, under cover then moved on and on when compared that to a seed that fell from its parent, thriving in exactly the same soil and conditions just a year later. In the natural conditions that seed always was meant to grow in.
There are some plants that grow better if lifted and replanted in another spot. I find nicandra and cornflowers will struggle if grown in the same spot two seasons in a row, but grow beautifully if moved. I love finding self sowers and they are an important part of my sowing plan. I no longer sown panicum ‘frosted explosion’, a beautiful fibre optic type grass. It survives the winter, along with nicandra and atriplex. Easily weeded out so never a nuisance; I always have a good 1.2m squared spot for these plants.
Ground is far better covered with plants photosynthesising all year round, even if it is a ‘weed’ in that spot rather than clean bare soil with nothing to keep the soil active.
Seed Saving.
Collect seed from ripe plants on a sunny dry afternoon. All parts must be dry and free from mould. Hang up to dry or shake straight into a jar or envelope.
To make it easy on myself I will try to decant seeds into lidded jars, label clearly and store in a cool dry dark cupboard.
I’ll write a list of all the seeds I’ve saved to review more easily when I am planning my schedules and plot plants later this year.
This year, with damp and sporadic showers is proving a tricky year to collect seed but keep at it.
Do you collect seed? What are your biggest successes? Shall we organise a seed swop?
The year long practical in person course on the plots to ‘Grow Your Own Cut Flowers’ begins in September, just a few weeks away. If you want to cultivate a deeper relationship with your growing space, grow cut flowers then cut and condition them successfully, please join me.
All about the course and what is included with the session dates below. If you’d like to find out more about the course, let’s arrange a call for a chat about it.
Good to know Frosted Explosion and Atriplex/Orache self-seed beautifully since this is my first year, loving them. My other favorite, yet vigorous self-seeders: Bupleurum, Love-in-Mist, Amaranth.
Lovely labels 🏷️