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This year’s self-seeders

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No matter how much time and work I put into my vegetable garden, I can always find more things to do – especially at the beginning of the season. It seems like my gardening to-do list just never ends. So, I do appreciate it when something in the garden gets done without me doing it. And that is why I love the so called self-seeders so much…

As the name suggests, the self-seeders are plants which self-seed themselves. By doing so, they take some of the work off your shoulders. It’s like having a free work force in the garden. They do the heavy-lifting without wanting anything in return. All you have to do is harvest them when time comes. It’s no wonder then that I’m extremely happy whenever I see a self-seeder coming up!

Here is a list of self-seeding plants I noticed in my garden this year:

Coriander

Self-sown coriander plants.
Coriander is a great early-spring substitute for parsley. It germinates and grows very quickly, so I don’t have to wait long for the leaf harvest. It’s also easy to get seeds (and self-seeders) from it. All I have to do is let it bolt and wait for the seeds to turn brown.

Swiss chard

Self-sown swiss chard seedlings.
Swiss chard is one of my favorite leafy greens. I harvest it throughout the entire season. Keep in mind though the plant is biennial. It has to over-winter to set seeds. So don’t expect it to self-seed itself after it’s first growing year.

Sunflowers

Self-sown sunflower seedlings.
I always bring few sunflowers back home when they are in ful bloom. My wife just loves them It’s effortless to get self-seeders from it. Once the flower turns into the seeds, birds feed on them. Some of the seeds fall down on the ground and sprout the next spring.

Mint

Self-sown mint seedlings.
I inherited mint from the previous allotment renter. Except for smelling it a couple of times, I never paid any attention to it. In fact, I consider it a weed and actually pulled a couple of plants out in the past. It keeps coming back year after year. Perhaps this year I’ll harvest it and do something with it.

Buckwheat

Self-sown buckwheat seedling.
Buckwheat was one of the green manure crops I planted last year. The plants help improve the soil and have beautiful flowers as well. They also set the seeds last year, but I hadn’t had the time to collect them. That obviously wasn’t necessary, because they self-seeded themselves nicely.

Pot marigolds

Pot marigolds fire-up my garden with their yellow and orange colours each year. I sown them only once, and from then on, they’ve taken care of the sowing part themselves. I only thin and transplant them every now and then to different parts of my garden.

I hope to see these self-seeders again next year. Perhaps some new ones as well. They not only save me time and money (seeds cost money too), but the plants are more adapted to local weather conditions too!

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