Find Seeds and Learn How to Grow Plants
Today's Nature Connector is to search for seeds and learn how to grow plants. Go for a walk around your backyard or local green space and hunt for seeds. What seeds can you find? Can you figure out how the seeds are dispersed (by wind, water, animals or force)? Can you identify any of them? You could try out the SEEK iNaturalist app for this. You might like to make collecting seeds fun by doing our Seed Scavenger Hunt.
Can you find any seeds that you'd like to plant to try and grow? Research to see if it is the right time of year to grow them and what you need to do to grow them successfully. To find out more about how to propagate different native seed types, go to this DOC page. It has great advice for propagating different native seeds. This Seed Collecting Guide from White bait Connection is also fantastic (in te reo Māori here).
If you live near a bush area, you could collect some leaf litter and try to grow a leaf litter garden. This is best done in July or August, so you might like to try again then if it's not successful this time.
Have fun learning about seeds!
Let’s learn about kōwhai seed propagation
Watch the videos below on kōwhai seed propagation and planting like a ninja.
Let’s propagate our own kōwhai seeds! Find out if you have a kōwhai tree in your backyard or nearby (that you would be allowed to collect seeds from). If you do, start by collecting some seeds. Try not to collect more than you need for your seed propagation. If you need more instructions on how to propagate your kōwhai seeds HERE is an instruction sheet.
NOTE: At Kids Greening Taupō we soak our kōwhai seeds in hot water overnight before sanding the seeds to get through the outer seed coat. This helps the kōwhai seedlings to grow faster. Feel free to experiment with different preparations to see which method helps your kōwhai grow better.
If you do not have a seed tray for seed propagation, you can use an ice cream, strawberry or yoghurt container or make a paper/cardboard container to plant your seeds into. Just make sure if you do use paper or cardboard, or any container with holes to put something underneath it so that when you give your seeds water there is something to catch the extra water below your container. HERE is a great video for recycled containers.
The key to seed propagation is to be really patient! Make sure you keep the soil damp (not too wet or too dry) and keep the seed trays somewhere warm. Good luck!
This page is from the beautiful book, ‘Aroha Knows’ by Rebekah Lipp and Craig Phillips. Check it out for more tips on connecting to nature for wellbeing.