Last week, my oldest daughter and I rummaged through a cup full of harvested broccoli seed pods from my garden, and we collected seeds to start planting. I enjoy gardening, but my favorite part is harvesting for regrowth -- either collecting seeds or spreading out root clusters to have more plants. Having bushes that grow fruit every year is nice also, as that requires very little work. Whatever the case, the idea of being self-sufficient in the garden appeals to me. In theory, one should be able to start off with seeds or starter plants that they either purchase or find, and after that, never have to worry about somebody else providing seeds again. Aside from a desire to add variety, every year should involve an increase in plants without relying on the purchase of new seeds. I mention adding variety as an exception, because I just spent about $50 on seeds from 30 different plants. That's a lot of seeds. And in theory, I shouldn't have to buy more, unless I want more variety in the future.


Here are some of the broccoli seed pods, and a couple of seeds.


And here's the raised bed of strawberry plants that started out as a single plant I found in my yard when I first moved into my home. I've got about twenty plants now, and since I relocated all of the plants (you should relocate strawberries after two years; strawberries suck up nutrients from the soil pretty quickly), I expect to have quite a few berries this year.