The traditional way of growing vegetables is to browse catalogues or stores and buy seeds every year ahead of the season, then start sowing them in spring. I am sure many vegetable growers, including myself, have done this time after time. Still, there is another way to grow plants from seed if you want to take a step back away from a rigorous, controlled schedule and enjoy getting some vegetables for free.
Just as flowers reseed themselves around beds and borders, some vegetables also self-seed if left to their own devices. Letting these vegetables go to seed and naturally reproduce can give you lots of plants for free in your vegetable garden – but only if you let go of the control and let nature do its thing.
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7 easy self-seeding vegetables to grow
There is a long list of potential self-seeding vegetables, but I have picked some of the best to focus on here. Both annual and biennial vegetables can self-seed, and examples of both are in this list.
For success with self-seeding vegetables, take time to learn what the seedlings will look like, and I still advise making an overall plan for the kitchen garden, as it is quick and easy to transplant seedlings and move them to the desired location so they develop healthily and give you the best harvests.
1. Arugula
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Growing arugula is a quick and easy way to spice up salads or sandwiches, thanks to the plant’s peppery leaves. The crop is a fast-growing vegetable that can be sown from spring to late summer, and you get harvests of arugula leaves 4-6 weeks later.
Annual arugula often bolts in warm temperatures or due to a lack of moisture. The leaves turn bitter after the plant starts flowering; however, there are benefits if you allow plants to go to seed.
They will readily self-seed and give you new plants for free. The new plants may be smaller than the originals, but will still provide more-than-adequate pickings of spicy leaves.
These arugula seeds available at True Leaf Market can be sown from spring onwards and germinate in as little as five days.
2. Lettuce
Bolting plants are commonplace when growing lettuce, but rather than rue the end of your pickings, why not let nature do its job and give you new plants? You could carefully harvest lettuce seeds, or simply leave the plant to drop them into the soil to germinate instead.
As most growers know, lettuce often starts bolting quickly when the temperatures rise, seemingly overnight. Letting just one or two plants self-seed means plants you’ve not had to sow and lettuce harvests for free.
For reliable year-round harvests, it is still beneficial to plant lettuces regularly throughout the year and sow different spring, summer and winter varieties to give pickings across the seasons.
See the range of lettuce seeds to plant at Amazon
See the range of lettuce seeds to plant at Walmart
See the range of lettuce seeds to plant at Burpee
See the range of lettuce seeds to plant at True Leaf Market
3. Swiss Chard
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Chard is a stunning vegetable to grow, as it brings a somewhat ornamental look to any vegetable garden or raised beds. You can choose types of chard to plant with different stem colors, or opt for a mix and enjoy a rainbow of Swiss chard on your plot.
You can grow Swiss chard year-round in mild climates, or even protect plants from frost to overwinter them and provide harvests into spring. It is a biennial plant, so it will flower and self-seed in its second year for new chard plants to enjoy.
My personal favorite type is Swiss chard ‘Bright Lights’ (and you can get Swiss chard ‘Bright Lights’ seeds at Burpee) as it is a mixed color variety that is slow to bolt in hot summers. It can be overwintered with the protection of horticultural fleece or cloches, and will start to flower and produce seed in its second year.
4. Corn Salad
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This self-seeding vegetable reputedly got its name from its uncanny ability to seed itself around corn fields, hence the name corn salad (though you may also know it as mache or lamb’s lettuce).
Corn salad is a cool-weather crop, sown in late summer or early fall to provide harvests of slightly nutty leaves throughout winter. It is a very cold-hardy vegetable that provides pickings throughout the colder months, when the rest of a vegetable garden dies down for the season.
When the temperatures rise again and reach 75-80°F, corn salad will start to go to seed. These new seedlings germinate quickly and grow throughout late summer and fall to provide harvests again come winter.
You can get Dutch broad-leaved corn salad seeds at True Leaf Market to plant in late summer through fall.
5. Leeks
Leeks are commonly sown in spring and then harvested in fall or winter. However, they are biennial plants that, if left in the ground over winter, will then start growing in spring and produce a flower head before setting seed.
The plants will disperse seedlings around the soil, which can be thinned and left to grow where they are or transplanted into a dedicated bed for a new harvest of leeks later that year.
Onions will also go to seed in spring if left to overwinter. This opens up the opportunity to harvest onion seeds to sow (and onions grown from seeds tend to be larger than those from sets) or allow the crop to self-seed for a new crop.
See the range of leek seeds at Amazon
See the range of leek seeds at Walmart
See the range of leek seeds at Burpee
See the range of leek seeds at True Leaf Market
6. Parsnips
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Parsnips have a reputation for not being the easiest vegetable to grow from seed. And the truth is, they are slow and finicky, and even the most experienced grower can struggle. I’ve had years where multiple sowings have resulted in only a tiny handful of parsnips to harvest.
One caveat to good germination with parsnips (and carrots) is using fresh seed. If you’ve had luck and are growing parsnips on your plot this year, you can leave some in the ground till next spring, when they will flower and self-seed. The seeds that will drop to the ground will be the freshest you could sow.
Parsnips don’t like root disturbance, so you can’t transplant the seedlings and move them elsewhere. But if you thin them out to give the space required, they can develop into lovely roots to harvest.
You can sow these All-American parsnip seeds at Amazon for smooth, tender white roots that reach three inches wide and 12 inches long.
7. Radishes
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If you are after fast-growing self-seeding vegetables, then radishes must feature near the top of the list. You can grow radishes for many months, sowing from spring through to early fall, and the seeds are quick to germinate.
Radishes sown in spring will likely bolt when the temperatures rise in summer. Allow a few roots to set and spread seed, and you’ll quickly see new seedlings popping up. These radishes can be harvested within a month to add a bit of a kick to salads, to roast, or to pickle.
See the range of radish seeds at Amazon
See the range of radish seeds at Walmart
See the range of radish seeds at Burpee
See the range of radish seeds at True Leaf Market
Another self-seeding vegetable I previously experimented with is tomatoes. I once started working in a garden and found tomatoes that had self-seeded in a polytunnel. I transplanted these tomato seedlings from the ground and grew them on, and they did really well.
For tomatoes to self-seed, fruits need to mature, drop from the plant, and then rot into the soil. The seeds inside the fruit will overwinter and sprout when the soil warms.
If you are growing tomatoes in a greenhouse or polytunnel, there is a greater chance of success with self-seeding plants than outdoors, as the seedlings require a warm and protected environment in spring when they pop up.
It may be worth a trial if you find a tomato variety you love and want some free plants, or you can harvest tomato seeds to sow again.
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