"Seed Week" - Alternatives

I happened to remember this : "Seed sowing is the first step towards gardening.".....though I just can't recall the blogger's name who wrote that phrase.

The irony is, most of my garden plants did not originate from me sowing seeds, or collecting, saving or even buying seeds. Well...at least not until last October, when I started my small vegetable patch. I bought them fresh from the local wet market or Tesco as part of my groceries, emptied out the seeds and threw them away in planter boxes. My first seeds were cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, chillies, eggplant, capsicum and lady's finger (okra). Then I had seeds buying spree at MAHA 2010 and of course some given by Bangchik (My Little Vegetable Garden), Diana (Malay-Kadazan Girl) and Malar (My Little Garden). Majority of my garden plants came from seedlings bought from nurseries, DIY stem propagation, root propagation, rhizomes, tubers and just about any part of the plant that can be grown. So these are alternatives to seed sowing in gardening! Lets have a look at some of these that I have done in my own garden.

growing tumeric using rhizomes, I use tumeric leaves in cooking rendang

so seed sowing is the start of my vegetable garden this year... corriander, pak choy, sweet corn, sweet peas, french bean, okra, Japanese cucumber, kale, lettuce...



Thai basil and celery using stem and root cuttings

Im very impatient with seeds. You sow the seeds then you wait, and wait, and wait...sometimes might be forever, or nothing at all....just to see the tiny green dots coming out.

I grow my onion like this, solely for the leaves in ganishing my soup, stew, omelette, fried rice, noodles...


growing pandan using their roots submerge in water first until they start rooting, of course you can plant them direct into the soil



my spider plant with lots of baby spiders dangling, so just cut one and put it in soil



stem propagation - rosemary



stem propagation - thyme



as explained in my previous post here, blackberry propagation by stem or nodes

see how the node has grown from the plastic bag and planted into the soil

this was the start of my stem propagation - grape seedlings

also mulberry seedlings

recently I learnt something new...grafting, taught by a friendly nursery boy who was not stingy in parting his knowledge to me

tapioca (ubi kayu) stems propagation

growing caladium tricolor by tuber

growing mint by rooting the stems first in water

propagated the frangipani stems recently - pink/white bloom

finally the balsam seeds given by Malar just thrown randomly among portulucas and coleus




I find that I get the same thrill and satisfaction in growing those plants whether by seeds or otherwise. The anticipation of seeing the seeds, stems, rhizomes, tubers, or roots continuing their life growing into healthy plants is so exciting and you feel very sad if they don't.

Take a peek at Diana's garden at Kebun Malay-Kadazan Girls and learnt something interesting about her own garden seeds during the "Seed Week".

Continue with the above phrase : " Gardening is a beautiful habit and hobby as it gives content to the heart and peace in the mind".