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Growing Plants from Seed
I have been busy preparing for Spring already! I have planted magnolia seeds, haskap seeds, hosta seeds and more! They are all growing steady under a grow light until it’s warm enough to put them in the greenhouse. It’s so much fun planting a seed and then watching it come alive as it sprouts and grows!
The seeds in a haskap berry are so small they are barely noticeable, so I cut berries in half and in quarters and planted them in a peat moss and perlite mixture. As you can see from the pictures more than one seed has started growing in most of the pots. All those plants from half a berry or less! Some pots have up to five plants.
I have also planted a few different varieties of magnolia seeds, some white, some pink, some a little of both. This is my second time growing magnolia seeds and I have found that it can take months for some of the seeds to sprout. Last year I was ready to give up on the seeds that didn’t sprout so I put the tray in the barn to deal with later. About a week went by and when I looked at the tray most of the seeds had sprouted. I’m not sure why they took so long but I think it might have something to do with the fact that magnolia seeds do not require light to sprout so when I put them in the barn where it was darker than in the house the rest of the seeds sprouted. I now keep the trays in a dark spot until the seeds start sprouting.
The hosta seeds I planted are doing great! From what I’ve read only about one in five seeds actually sprouts and this seems to be true based on what I’ve planted. I grew hosta seeds last year as well. This year, however, I have seeds from the really big hosta’s which I’m excited to see grow and need to find a spot for one or two in my gardens. It is not fun trying to get hosta seeds out of their pods but it is worth it in the end!
I am growing these plants and many more that will be available this Spring, Summer, and Fall. We will also have lilies, daylilies, hanging baskets, annuals, perennials, and more! I wanna know what are your favorite plants to grow from seed and what are you looking for to plant in your garden this year?
Haskap Berries & Their Role In Reducing Cancer Risk
Dr. Vasantha Rupasinghe, associate professor with the Department of Environmental Sciences at Dalhousie Agricultural Campus, and his team are researching the haskap berry to develop a food therapy that would reduce the risk of cancer. Students who joined the team to look at the effects of the berry on high blood pressure and inflammation found that the berry suppressed inflammation.
Dr. Rupasinghe says “the most recent research shows that flavonoids present fruits are known to prevent and suppress cancer development and metastasis, but there are also economic benefits to using the haskap”. Nova Scotia has the perfect climate for growing haskaps and the opportunity is there to take advantage of this. When farmers move out west looking for better jobs and pay, they leave behind thousands of acres of land, land that could be planted with haskaps.
Madumani (Madu) Amararathna, a student at DAL, has been awarded a grant to study the chemo preventative properties of haskap. “Madu is going to study cancer preventative properties of haskap by using experimental models of lung cancer,” he said, adding Amararathna will do some cell-based assays as well as tests on mice”. Dr. Rupasinghe wants to create a haskap drink for use in food therapy.
To read the full article click here.
Source: http://www.trurodaily.com/