- For millions of years, plants relied on close association with water. Male sperm had to physically swim through water using microscopic flagella to reach the female ova and fertilize it. Eventually, the sperm became pollen, and the fertilized ova became spores. Spores gradually developed a protective coating that sheltered the genetic material inside from environmental extremes, and became seeds. Seeds allow new plants to be dispersed by animals and the wind, giving them an evolutionary advantage.
- Along with laying sod, seeding is one of the most common ways of establishing a residential lawn. In most climates, lawns can be established in the spring or fall, with fall being the preferred time. Seeding a well-prepared seedbed with high-quality seed allows homeowners to establish any variety of grass that they want relatively inexpensively. For spring applications, that grass can be mixed with a fast-growing variety like perennial ryegrass to quickly establish a barrier to weeds.
- Seeding a garden with a variety of different vegetable seeds produces a crop of vegetables for the lowest possible cost. Many different varieties of common crops exist, each designed for a slightly different environment or production model. Hybrid seed is bred from two or more different strains of plants, and result in plants with extremely desirable traits. Seed from hybrid plants does not breed true. Heirloom or open-pollinated (nonhybrid) seed does breed true.
- Farmers establish agricultural crops like corn, soybeans and wheat by seeding fields with large, tractor-powered machinery. Almost all crops in the United States are grown from purchased seed, much of which is developed, and sometimes even patented, by large corporations. The advances in plant breeding engineered by these corporations have resulted in greater crop yields over the last several decades, but some argue that they have also taken power and control away from the individual farmer.
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