Saving Seed From Supermarket Veg

Does anyone save seeds from store bought veg/fruit? Is it worth doing or wouldn't you bother?

I tried to grow a seed from a lemon a few years ago but I don't think it ever germinated.

I'm not a huge veg grower, but I'd like to practice and think this would be a good way?

 

Not seeds as such but I bought a garlic bulb and a bit of ginger the other week and trying my luck with them, never done either before though. What you thinking of planting?

 

I have a few bell peppers (Asda if it matters?) and wondered what would happen if I were to sow them?

Probably going to give it a go, gardening is meant to be experimental!

 

Maybe only for a bit of fun as supermarket fruit tends to be grown for just about everything other than flavour, commercial varieties may well be F1 so most seeds will not be true to form, stuff like Garlic [1] might be grown in a country with totally different climate to the UK and even treated to inhibit sprouting, planting shop potatoes increases the risk of disease in your crop, virtually all apple varieties require grafting to propagate (Blenheim Orange is supposed to be an exception), etc.

If you're canny, decent seeds can be obtained very cheaply (or even for nothing!). Seeds can also be saved from loads of varieties. Californian Wonder Pepper seeds are very cheap.

But for kids it could be a bit of fun to do something like squeeze out a few seeds from their shop bought tomatoes and actually get some sort of edible crop later in the year, so they make the connections between fruits, seeds and new plants. I sowed a Lemon pip when young, think it got to about 3 foot high and had blossoms before I gave up on it, would probably have been better spending some money as well as time a growing a proper mini-orange.



[1] In the autumn I planted some French (Roscoff) Garlic bought cheaply from a farm shop and it seems to be doing very well, at least it wasn't from something suitable for growing in a Chinese climate.

 

Picked up california wonder from wilko the other week, think it was a quid for one of those starter pots, should be 5 seeds in there I had 12.. maybe I was lucky!
My other half is growing and the feed is Canna, went on their website http://www.canna-uk.com/ginger_grow_it_yourself
and found that, so thought I'd have a go.. as for the garlic I read about that in some 'grow your own from kitchen scraps' or something similiar article.

 

I have tried the following from collected seed:

Morrisons birdseye chilli, bell pepper, "grape" cherry tomato, butternut squash and pumpkin - all these germinated fine and produced fruit.

Morrisons Granny Smith apple, pomegranate, lemon, orange, avocado, cherimoya, passion fruit, papaya, mango and grape - all these germinated fine, produced trees or bushes but no fruit.

London Chinatown lychee, longan and peach - all germinated and produced trees.

The trick to get them to germinate is, in most cases, to peel away the outer protective husk and to be patient when planting them.


From segments or cuttings:

Morrisons ginger, spring onion, basil, potato and garlic - all these "reactivated", grew fine and produced crops.