Experiencing the joy of watching a seed you didn’t plant grow in your garden is one of the most uplifting things you can do for yourself.
The resilience practice of allowing and encouraging plants to self-seed in a garden offers several benefits and various possibilities to explore. This practice involves allowing plants to reproduce by producing their own seeds.
Meaning of a self-propagating plant
Self-propagation refers to the process by which plants reproduce without human intervention. However, this does not imply that human agency does not have a role in molding the course of events.
When plants start reproducing on their own, it usually means management practices have shifted. People are quick to attribute this to unfavorable causes, like a loss in resources, when it may be an indication of changing definitions of care and changing values, as shown in low-input gardening.
List of Self-Propagating Plants
Leafy Vegetables
Some of the healthiest and most versatile leafy greens for garnishes, soups, and salads are also self-propagating. Watercress thrives in partial shade or full sun, in water gardens, or in regularly moist soil.
Additionally, it is simple to grow new plants from cuttings. Amaranth leaves, when young, can be cooked and eaten like spinach. Red tassel-like flowers hang down from attractive foliage.
Several salad mainstays, including collards, mustards, kale, and radicchio, are also self-seeding green vegetables. Kale is hardy in many climates and produces large, fringed rosettes of leaves. Mustard and radicchio are two varieties of fast-growing loose-leaf lettuce.
Root Vegetables
Beets, rutabaga, turnips, and carrots are all self propagating root vegetables that are hearty and tasty. Vegetables like these thrive in full sunlight and require little maintenance.
Both the rutabaga and turnip come from the Mediterranean and are members of the Brassicaceae family of plants. You can use turnip greens in both cold and hot salads.
Carrots come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, from the 12-inch Envy to baby carrots such as Short n’ Sweet, Little Finger, and Sweet Baby Jane. The leaves and roots of beets are also edible.
While most cultivars feature red roots, white and yellow cultivars are also possible.
Perennials
Perennials are plants that return year after year once they have been established. Keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t start taking over the garden.
Although it takes a few years for this Mediterranean native to start producing reliably, once it does, you can count on having a steady supply of asparagus for up to 15 years.
Another self-propagating vegetable is the Egyptian walking onion, which has a high rate of production. Gardeners should keep an eye on how fast they multiply.
The meaning of self-seeding
Self-seeding refers to the ability of a plant to reproduce itself from its own seeds, either by intentional human intervention or accidental release.
These seeds need the cool fall weather to germinate so that they may rest through the cold winter. At the beginning of the growing season, they begin to sprout and grow, and at the end of the season, new seeds are created to start the cycle over again.
Many species of plants, including vegetables, herbs, flowers, trees and shrubs, have this characteristic.
Most self-seeding plants are annuals, although a few perennial species also exhibit this behavior.
Annuals are plants that bloom for only one growing season and then perish at the end of the season, having grown from a single seed. While blooming and growing, the plant is capable of producing mature seeds.
They are genetically identical to the parent plant yet constitute a new generation. Pollinators like animals and bees can disperse these next-generation seeds throughout the garden.
This is where they can germinate and thrive the following year. Some perennials originate from bulbs and return annually in the spring after winter hibernation.
List of self-seeding Plants
Some plant species are notorious for spreading their seeds all over a garden without any intervention from the gardener.
Plants that can reproduce themselves naturally have many benefits. It’s a great way to easily add to your plant supply without spending money or time each year.
To direct the growth of self-seeding plants, you can harvest the seed head after the seeds have matured. After that, shake it over the region of the garden where you want the plants to establish themselves.
- Squash
Anyone who has a compost pile and has thrown away the squash remnants in it can see the amazing self-seeding potential of the squash.
The tricky thing about self-seeding squash is that cross-pollination would occur if the parent plant were grown next to another variety of squash. The resulting fruit might be a hybrid of two or more squash species.
Before planting your self-seeding squash patch, learn the minimum distance that you should practice to save seeds from a fully bred variety.
- Herbs
Numerous herbs will gladly spread from seed all on their own in your garden or farm. These include but are not limited to horseradish, dill, basil, borage, chives, chamomile, parsley, cilantro, oregano, fennel and calendula.
It’s helpful to know the distinction between self-seeding annuals and perennials. On the other hand, herbs are typically the real game-changers when it comes to luring and sustaining pollinators. A self-seeding herb farm or garden is a must.
- Tomatoes
You’ve probably seen the “volunteer” tomato unless you keep a spotless garden and meticulously pick up every dropped weed and veggie.
The fact that a self-seeding tomato plant has already saved some of its most viable seeds from the previous year means that, in principle, it will produce some of the hardiest kinds for your specific climate.
Also, self-seeding tomatoes are wonderful companion plants for self-seeding borage, so the two will continue to reseed themselves together.
- Potatoes
Once you plant potatoes in a given area, they can be difficult to eradicate until every last one is unearthed. Planting forgotten potatoes is one of the finest methods to get a head start on next year’s harvest.
Keep a close eye out for blight, and pull out any potatoes that display symptoms. Occasionally, you can transplant these plants in the early spring to give them some extra room and realign their growth so they all thrive.
- Greens
Many varieties of self-seeding greens are both nutritious and delicious. Some fantastic examples of self-seeding greens include sorrel, mustard, kale, chard, spinach, lettuce, collards and arugula.
In your baby greens bed, you can add self-seeding radishes and turnips. You can have a new bed of baby greens in the late summer or fall if you seed it in the spring, harvest it a few times and then let it go to seed.
Some spicy blossom heads may even be edible if you seed the initial bunch heavily enough. While you appreciate and anticipate the next harvest of those that bloom, you may notice an influx of helpful insects.
- Wild Edibles
What would happen if the wild edibles vanished? The wild self-seeding plants are particularly fascinating. This is because they reveal so much about your garden soil requirements and ecological succession.
Many plants that are edible in the wild have therapeutic or nutritional value. Incorporating self-seeding wild edibles like plantain, lamb’s quarter, burdock, purslane, wild lettuce and dandelion into your garden or farm is a great idea.
- Sunflowers
One of the top picks, probably because they spread seeds with such joy, are sunflowers. These plants are matchless in their versatility. They provide food for beneficial insects, are visually stunning, and may be cut for bouquets or used as a centerpiece.
Conclusion
If you give them a chance, many more species of herbs, vegetables and flowers will flourish in your garden or farm. You can try even more once you’ve gotten the hang of things.
Life is eager to exist in the midst of nature’s abundance. Planting yourself ensures that your garden will continue to thrive long after you’ve finished sowing.
With proper care and maintenance, your garden might become one of the hardiest and most fruitful you’ve ever seen.
Before letting your garden plants go to seed on their own, you need to get the OK from your local extension service.
Some of them are considered invasive because they threaten native plant species. The natives may be pushed out, and the ecosystem may suffer. It’s possible to be the kind of gardener who gets frustrated with the chaos of growing seedlings.
If that’s the case, you should carefully consider which plants you select, especially if they are self-sowing.