Opium poppy seed harvest

This year, the opium poppies I planted didn't come up.  I suspect the chickens scratched over the beds where I scattered the seeds, and destroyed any germinating seeds before they had a chance to come up.  Luckily, the ones I left to their own devices last year self-seeded.

Poppies growing in wheelbarrow last year:

Self-seeded seedlings coming up in October 2014:

Live poppy straws and seed heads, after flowers petals have dropped, late December 2014:

Dead poppy straws and seed heads January 2015 that remain after my occasional harvest:

Harvested poppy seed heads, pre-seed removal.

Final poppy seed "crop":

All in all, harvesting maybe 50 seed heads, I ended up with a hefty bag of poppy seeds weighing in as shown, at 105 grams.  Removing the seeds from the seed heads is a matter of holding the straw ends and simply upending them and shaking them over a container.  If I had to harvest them on a larger scale, I'd simply get a supermaket bag, turf the cut heads into it, give it a good shake and then pull out the heads one by one making sure all were empty.

Buying them in the Greggs boxes at the supermarket, you purchase them at $2.29NZ / 40 grams.  So, at supermarket rates of 0.57c / 10 grams, my seeds would cost $6 NZ.

I invested no time at all in growing these poppies, and perhaps less than 5 minutes harvesting the seeds.  The only problem might be if they spread throughout your garden, but there are worse problems to have.  What I should have done differently is tagged the plants with the red petals, and save the seeds from those to sow for next year.

Self-sown opium poppy seedlings

Opium poppies last summer.  These were grown in dirt dug from the drainage ditch at the front of the house, and it was likely sprayed at some point.  So I didn't bother to save any seed.

And the surrounding area as of today.  The green frilly leaves that dominate the area around the barrow are poppy leaves, from self-sown seedlings.  I'm quite happy with how well they've come up, given that my feathered gardeners do a pretty good job of weeding by scratching up all dirt they can access, either covered or uncovered.

I'll scatter some more seed over the top and perhaps get a succession of poppies coming up. Maybe I'll get enough poppy seeds this year to save for cooking.

Opium Poppies / 2013-2014

I bought opium poppy seeds from the national auction site. I have no interest in making my own opium, or heroin, but the idea of growing as many things I can eat as possible is one of my goals. In this case, the edible is poppy seeds.

Day 27: By this time, they're a pretty distinctive plant, and have germinated well.

Day 33: Six days later, from a different angle.

Day 93: Later some were planted out in an old barrow.

Day 94: A few more open every day.

Day 96: Two more days pass.

Day 103: Seven more days pass.

Day 112: Nine more days pass.

Day 126: Fourteen more days pass. The poppies are starting to die, as some yellow is appearing.

Day 141: Fifteen more days pass. At this point, they're all dead. Once the heads are dry enough, they can be cut off and cracked open to get the seeds. Wait too long, and the seeds are lost through holes in the heads. The soil I put in the barrow, I dug out of the watercourse at the front of the property, which I had earlier sprayed to kill the growth in there to allow better water flow. So I did not save any from these plants, for culinary purposes. They were traded with some lady for black double opium poppy seeds, which she gave me a lot of. Not sure I want to get those mixed up with these, as these look better. Black flowers are something I still need to be convinced of the merits of.

Day 96: The rest of the poppy seedlings were planted out on the west side of the house. Not so much sun there, so not so many photos.

Day 103: Seven days later. These were eventually the seeds I saved for culinary purposes.

Day 140: This is a dried seed head. It is basically a bowl shape with a windowed top. When the seed is dry enough, the gaps/windows on the top open and the seeds get out of the bowl. So if you wait too long, they'll be empty.

Here's the seeds obtained from one bulb.

And the seeds obtained from two bulbs in total. Really, look how much you get from two poppies. A herb package of poppy seeds costs around $2 at the supermarket on special. You would only need to harvest 10-20 poppies to get this many seeds, at most.

I think I should sow seed regularly over time, so as to get a continuous crop of poppies. If I did this, then I would both get an appealing ground cover, and would get a continuous supply of seeds. It will be interesting to see how many plants self-seed next spring, as well.

An additional note, is that the seeds are grey and not black, as the culinary poppy seeds purchased in the supermarket are - or the seeds on your bagel. But I understand that the grey is a opiate latex covering, and could possibly be washed off. I haven't done much research into this.