I’ve always saved dried chilies to use over the winter. I’ve also always planted the seeds from one or two the next year to grow more. The original plant must have been an heirloom plant, since the new plants do flower and make chilies.
I also planted potatoes from the store several years, just for fun, to see how it worked. It did work. I took potatoes that had at least two eyes, one for plant and one for roots, planted them, and got potatoes. People had told me the potatoes from the grocery store wouldn’t grow.
Now I’ve read a couple of articles that say the food/seeds from the grocery store will grow. Hmmm. Interesting.
So a few weeks ago I stuck 3 lentils in a pot in the kitchen, where there is really good light . They all sprouted! Will they actually grow? So far, they will. Will they thrive and produce what they’re supposed to when I plant them outside …..remains to be seen. I also planted 3 black eyed peas and they also sprouted, in about 5 days. Above is a picture of one of the black eyed pea plants, one of which is now about a foot tall. And I read that both of those plants will self pollinate. I might grow black eyed peas in my kitchen….we’ll see. This has been all experimentation, but maybe fresh black eyed peas from my kitchen next winter? This is fun! When you can’t garden in the winter, maybe you can learn things that will be important later.
I’ve read articles now about sprouting lentils to eat the sprouts too. But I want to know if they’ll grow, to plant some in the garden in the spring. But I’ll also try some sprouts to see what they taste like. I don’t know whether these seeds are GMO seeds, that’s the only thing that’s not necessarily good.
Food is always an ongoing adventure! So is growing some yourself.
If you have had any experience with this interesting idea, please leave me comments! Thanks. Happy gardening!
Sarasin's thoughts....... 
It sounds like a lot of fun! I hope your harvest exceeds all your expectations! 😀
I love having things grow, and successfully, and growing food is as good as it gets. Thanks!
My husband and I have grown beans and black eyed peas from the store bought pods, and they did produce fruit. It is true that SOME of the things in the store are hybrids, and many of those will never produce fruits, which is where the contradicting info comes from. And, some things you sprout from the store just take too much time to produce fruit – which is why they are sold “grafted” at the nursery to speed it up for you. Example: if you grow an avocado from the pit it takes about 10 yrs for that tree to produce – you might get lucky at about 7 yrs. And they same for an orange seed, they take about 8 yrs before that little tree will get fruit. But it’s still fun to grow from the waste of our foods. You can put your carrot tops in a (deep) pot and grow them too! Start in the winter, move them outside when it’s nice out. We’re planting a victory garden and it’s rewarding.
Oh thanks for the info! I’m up for experiments, so I’ll try almost anything once in growing things. We’ll see of these black eyed peas in the kitchen actually flower and produce seeds, and by that time I’ll know whether to plant them outside or if I have to go buy regular seeds.
About the carrots, that’s really interesting too. Thanks!
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