Comments on: Sow-Hoe Gardens

By: Blackswampgirl Kim

Blackswampgirl Kim — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:34:50 +0000

I agree wholeheartedly with your love of ‘Hopi Red Dye’ Nan! It’s one of my favorites… and I did find a seedling of a certain golden lemon balm this spring already, too. :-D (And yeah, I’m with you on the bronze fennel… entirely my own fault that I get so many seedlings. But I like the use the seeds for eating, and the bees and beneficial wasps adore the flower heads, so…)

I must find some of that ‘Merlot’ lettuce, by the way. I knew it was pretty, but didn’t realize it was so good-looking while going to seed! In a similar vein, one of my good self-sowers is “Ruby Orach” mountain spinach… hard to get upset about a plant where you can eat the seedlings you have to weed out, isn’t it?!

Oh, Kim – how could I have forgotten about the orach? It’s another one of my top favorites, right up there with the amaranth. I’ll have to admit that I’ve never tried eating the excess seedlings; maybe next spring!
-Nan

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:19:20 +0000

This is a great list to have. I wonder if you have comments on what self-sowing plants say about a gardener’s climate, soil, and garden house-keeping. I wonder, for example, whether too much mulch or hand-tilling encourages or discourages success of self-seeders. I enjoy seeing what plants are thriving and/or adapting to my location, but I do know other gardeners like to start with a clean slate each spring so as to show off their own design skills.

Some of these seed must be long-lived as well. I purchased my aunt’s house many years after she passed away, and many years after she had last planted anything. There were no flower, just weeds in the beds. After turning the soil the first year I had the place, I was surprised–and delighted–to recognize little plants of Nigella damascena emerging. They still are there every year, and something like a living legacy of someone long gone. She had planted these sometime in the 1980s I think, but they re-emerged when conditions were right.

Sorry for the delay in answering, Dan; I’ve been thinking about your questions. I was going to make a comment about self-sowing being a sign of a relaxed gardener – one who didn’t worry much about immediately deadheading everything. But then I realized that most of my annuals sef-sow sneakily, dropping much of their seed before I even realize it’s ripe, and at a point when the plant looks its best.

I don’t find mulch in general to cut down on seedlings; in fact, I find the vast majority of volunteers in my bark-mulch paths. But it does make a difference when I add a fresh layer of mulch in early spring, really cutting down on the seed germination. I’ve almost lost a few things that way. I’ve also found that it helps to delay spring weeding a bit, so it’s easier to tell the good stuff from the weeds.

Thanks for sharing the story about your aunt’s garden. What a lovely reminder you have of her.
-Nan

By: eliz

eliz — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:16:07 +0000

I love almost every plant you mentioned, and I don’t know what I would do without self-sowers and aggressive spreaders. Love em.

Yep, depending on the size of the garden, a little aggression can be a good thing (in plants, anyway).
-Nan