A Seed Saver's Garden

[flowerbug]

...
Probably a good idea to steer clear of astrantia seeds, I read that they are a giant pain in the *utt to start cause they need stratification.

as a general hint usually if a plant's seeds need stratification that also means the seeds may persist quite a long time in the soil seed bank so it may take many years to remove them if they're a problem...

i think i may have stated that too strongly, so perhaps i should have written it more as a hypothesis...

of course, then i wander off and look to see if anyone had done any experiments looking into this angle and did not find anything specific and i also ran out of time to look further.

but i did enjoy reading this paper:

Vertical distribution of soil seed bank and the ecological importance of deeply buried seeds in alkaline grasslands - PMC

Soil seed banks play a central role in vegetation dynamics and may be an important source of ecological restoration. However, the vast majority of seed bank studies examined only the uppermost soil layers (0–10 cm); hence, our knowledge on the depth ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

and then of course... i can't resist one last peek in:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24078382

"artificial stratification allowed the emergence of a larger number of species from the soil seed bank, but natural stratification improved estimates of the seed bank density." which is a hint of support for my hypothesis.

arm-chair science at its best... i feel a nap coming on... don't quote me on any of this...

 

[ducks4you]

You know we keep coming back to, "What can I grow that will spread Just Enough to suppress weeds, but won't become invasive?"
I keep coming back to turnips, and oats, and wheat.
Wherever they pop up I Don't have weeds, but I can pull them out pretty easily.
If you don't have sidewalks that portion off growing areas, you cannot contain Anything that wants to spread.

 

[heirloomgal]

as a general hint usually if a plant's seeds need stratification that also means the seeds may persist quite a long time in the soil seed bank so it may take many years to remove them if they're a problem...

i think i may have stated that too strongly, so perhaps i should have written it more as a hypothesis...

of course, then i wander off and look to see if anyone had done any experiments looking into this angle and did not find anything specific and i also ran out of time to look further.

but i did enjoy reading this paper:

Vertical distribution of soil seed bank and the ecological importance of deeply buried seeds in alkaline grasslands - PMC

Soil seed banks play a central role in vegetation dynamics and may be an important source of ecological restoration. However, the vast majority of seed bank studies examined only the uppermost soil layers (0–10 cm); hence, our knowledge on the depth ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

and then of course... i can't resist one last peek in:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24078382

"artificial stratification allowed the emergence of a larger number of species from the soil seed bank, but natural stratification improved estimates of the seed bank density." which is a hint of support for my hypothesis.

arm-chair science at its best... i feel a nap coming on... don't quote me on any of this...

I can personally guarantee that anyone in my climate won't have a problem with astrantia, ie dormant seeds etc. This is the most well behaved perennial I've ever grown aside from maybe peony and clematis, which behave the same. They generally don't multiply, not aggressively. This is actually why the hort society gifted me with it when I hosted them, they know NOBODY wants travellers! lol It's a testament to astrantia's loveliness and good behaviour that when I got rid of 95% of my perennial garden I couldn't part with it. She's real lady.

 

[heirloomgal]

You know we keep coming back to, "What can I grow that will spread Just Enough to suppress weeds, but won't become invasive?"
I keep coming back to turnips, and oats, and wheat.
Wherever they pop up I Don't have weeds, but I can pull them out pretty easily.
If you don't have sidewalks that portion off growing areas, you cannot contain Anything that wants to spread.

I love beans and peas for this, and they convert unusable soil to usable soil. DH grew up on a farm built on clay, they would plant peas for 2 or 3 years over a newly turned over section and it was in good shape for planting when they were done.

 

[heirloomgal]

Re: current weather trends.....