Weed seeds

[earlybird 2]

 :blob7:With the ground being so wet and cold why is it that weed seed don't rot like any other seed?  Any with an answer.

[earlybird 2]

[Digeroo]

Fat Hen seeds are amazingly robust.  They can get heated in compost heap, pass right through animals,  then sit in a manure heap for years and then pop up as large as life and grow like topsy.  I am sure a little wet and cold will not bother them either.   If you are happy to settle for Fat Hen instead of spinach I am sure you will have no germination issues.

I think that some of the crops we grow actually originated in warmer places.   The Romans for example brought all sorts with them.  While most beans and courgettes came from the New World. 

[Unwashed]

Charlock, amazing stuff.  Seeds can sit in waste ground for for a hundred years and given the opportunity will still germinate.

[Nigel B]

Fat Hen seeds are amazingly robust.  They can get heated in compost heap, pass right through animals,  then sit in a manure heap for years and then pop up as large as life and grow like topsy.  I am sure a little wet and cold will not bother them either.   If you are happy to settle for Fat Hen instead of spinach I am sure you will have no germination issues.

I think that some of the crops we grow actually originated in warmer places.   The Romans for example brought all sorts with them.  While most beans and courgettes came from the New World.

Yes indeedy!  During late summer, I was standing on a friend's plot, talking the talk, like you do. His is the corner plot, fenced along one side and the end against the worst the British summer could throw at it when I realised we are in the wrong game. We were surrounded by plants, naturally-occurring or natural-ised, that were bursting with vigour and fairly towering over us and our weedy weakly-growing crops of what we think are the best plants for the space we have created.
I sometimes feel like I've got a half-decent grip on the sticky end of the stick.

[GrannieAnnie]

The worst weed seeds I ever grew were those that came in a packet of free wildflowers, bought to attract butterflies, but grew monsterously strong and tall weeds with minimal flowering. Last time I'll buy a mix of seed.

[Robert_Brenchley]

A lot of garden weeds are adapted to last for decades in the soil, and germinate as soon as it's disturbed. Poppies are the classic example, but it's far from the only one.

[lottie lou]

Wish I could get my poppies to grow

[Digeroo]

Poppies are normally easy.  They require light for germination.  So if you cover them they will not germinate.  But they also require water and the seedlings will shrivel if they get too much heat.   Ants are particualarly good at it, they bring the seed to the surface but then cover them so once germinated they are kept moist.   Sowing carrots also seems to stimulate the growth of poppies in my garden.    I think they respond well to a bit of frost too, so I put them in the freezer for a few days before sowing them.   It is said they like ice, so if you can source a bit of ice to sow them on then they germinate when it melts. 

[GrannieAnnie]

I've never seemed to keep poppy seed damp enough. The only way I've been able to grow poppies is by sowing them on top of soil in a pot placed outside in early spring and covered with clear plastic wrap with a few holes poked in it and place the pot somewhere that it gets part sun and won't cook. It can get very warm here. After they sprout I remove the plastic and let them get some leaves, then transplant.  That process has never failed for me.