Seeds & stuff

[maitre d']

Daughter has soaked a lychee seed, which has now split open.  If I plant it up will it grow, any special conditions needed?  She also wants to grow a piece of root ginger.  Do we need to wait for a shoot to appear? or soak it? and how do you plant up garlic ?  Will cloves or star anise grow?

[woofgang]

Yes it will grow and make a nice conservatory plant, room temp ands loads of light, will enjoy the garden in summer but not frost hardy.

Root ginger grows very easily. Bung in potting compost, keep in a room temp light place and keep damp (cover with plastic bag remove bag when you see a shoot) . Mine has never flowered but the leaves smell lovely.

 Break up the garlic bulb and bung it in a pot or in the garden it grows like onions.

Don't know about star anise but I don't think so.

Cloves are a dried bud, not a seed so no.

Date stones do well. scoff the dates, then put the stones into water for a couple of days. Drain them off and put into  a plastic bag with a handful of damp compost. Seal the bag and put it in the airing cupboard, check about every 5 days, remove the stones that have shot and plant up, grow in a warm light spot. Be patient, sometimes it can take a month for the first stone to shoot then WOW.

Another interesting thing to do is to slice the top of a carrot or turnip and stand in a warm bright place  in a shallow dish on some very wet sand. The top will sprout feathery leaves.

Thank you for this post it has made me come over all Blue Peter Goes Gardening!!!

[SteveD]

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