Can you grow broom from seed?
The Wild Broom (Genista) Cytisus-Scoparius The straight branches were collected and used for brooms and Basket making. The whole plant was used in ancient times for medicinal purposes. The seeds are best soaked in hot water for several hours before planting. They like dry, sandy, and stony soil in a sunny position. Cytisus scoparius – Broom is a large, native shrub that is often found on heathland, woodland and coastal areas. It thrives in poor soil and is a useful plant for stablising soil.Broom (Cytisus scoparius) All parts of the plant are poisonous to humans, however! Like all the native plants we sell, our Broom is grown in the UK from UK seed.
What is a broom seed?
The seeds are small (around 3mm diameter) and very hard. In late summer, the pods split open explosively (the cracking of a pod can be heard) sending the seeds several metres from the parent plant. Broom can produce up to 10,000 seeds per season with one square meter of dense thicket containing around 65,000 seeds. Broomcorn seeds are planted in the early spring, and stalks are harvested in mid- to late August. The long woody stalks have tassels of flowers and seeds at the tips, which are removed during broom-making.
How to harvest broom corn seeds?
Just choose a few heads whose color or form you love, tag them, and let them sit in the field a bit longer than the rest. Then dry upside down for a couple weeks in a mouse-proof place (! Seeds can be sown directly in drills (rows) or broadcast (scattered over the soil surface). Sowing in drills makes it easier to distinguish your seedlings from weed seedlings, and is suitable for seeds that need to be sown deeper than a few millimetres.Another option is to tuck seeds directly into soil outdoors. Planting seeds this way is called direct sowing, and it is an easy process that yields great results.