Here's the barley seeds:
And flax seeds:
Germination was nearly a hundred percent on flax and a complete hundred percent on barley. So now, I can use these numbers to determine how many seeds to plant. Flax needs to be seeded at 40 seeds per square foot, and barley about thirty seeds per square foot.
Barley can be used to make artisan bread, as well as beer, and chicken feed. Flax seed is high in omega-3, can be added to any food, especially salads, and chicken feed as well. Both are sustainable small grains. Their stalks provide nice bulk for the compost. I will try about a hundred square foot each this spring, as soon as I finish preparing the beds.
Great experiment! I wonder if it would be a good idea to germinate any seeds you wanted to plant this way before planting them out in the garden or small pots.
ReplyDeleteThat way you wouldn't have to worry about poor germination of a crop and wasted time planting the seeds in the soil first. I will try this and see what happens. Thanks for the idea.
Well, if you have just a few seeds, let's say of a rare variety, I would go ahead and plant in soil. But if you have some old or unknown seeds, and you have some to spare for the experiment, that is a good way to figure out germination. Usually, I seed my own seeds in soil, and not worry about germination rate. It does backfire at times, as I have too many plants.
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