If you are wanting a self-reliant garden then you should be saving seeds! Learn how to start your seed bank in this post.
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The Key To Self Reliant Gardening
Don’t eat the seeds of watermelon or melon, they’ll grow in your tummy. Who heard that one at school? Why didn’t we ever tell each other to save the seeds and plant them instead? Rather than have us kids freak out that you accidentally swallowed a seed. Now they’ve bred seedless watermelons so we don’t need to worry about swallowing a seed.
We do need to worry about seeds. They are the key to our food security. Once upon a time in the not so distant past, all gardeners and farmers grew and saved their seeds.
In this post, I want to help break through some myths that seed saving is hard and difficult!
Anyone Can Save Seeds
You might be thinking seed saving is hard but thousands of people save seeds and have saved seeds throughout millennia and you can do it too! You don’t even really need fancy equipment and you don’t need a degree in genetics to be a seed saver!
Seed saving is helping your garden move forward. Each time you are buying seeds for your garden, you are taking a step back! Your seeds are probably not grown locally, many are grown and sent in to other seed companies to grow from all over the place.
Why Save Seeds?
Seed saving is a way to save money in your garden! What are seed packets running now? $4, $5? Saving seeds from a couple of tomato plants will give you enough seeds to grow those tomatoes for years to come. Ever scooped out a pumpkin to carve for halloween? There’s enough seeds in there for everyone living in the neighborhood and maybe the next to grow! Seriously. Plants are truly abundant.
It’s true that saving seeds from a number of plants of that variety is important. It’s more important if you are trying to produce seeds on a big scale let’s say you want to sell your seeds to a company. But when you are learning to save seeds in your own backyard does it really matter? Probably not. On the smaller the scale, the more diverse and sustainable your garden can become.
Seed Saving Is Easier On A Small Scale
Especially if you throw off those worries of cross-pollination. If this is your first time saving seeds. The worst thing that can happen is you can eat it or put it in the compost. That’s not so bad food for you and food for your compost bin!
Starting small means you can try it out, test your skills and improve your skills without breaking the bank! As you hone your skills, you will start to have a lot of seeds and you will want to start giving it away and show others how to grow and save seeds.
But It Takes Too Much Time!
It takes a lot of time is another reason I hear from homesteaders who don’t want to save seed. Well not really. A bit of organization is needed but you can save seed around your normal activities. Slicing up a tomato for a salad or to can? Scoop out the seeds into a jar to process them or smear some across a paper towel. There – you just saved some seeds!
Plants do need to take time to mature but if you are new to seed saving, starting with some easy plants will help to give you a win and build your confidence. Happen to find a missed bean pod hiding in the leaves that has gone all dry and crispy? No problem, they’re perfect for seeds! What about those hollyhocks in late summer or fall? They have brown buds on them now with a darker brown ring inside. Pull that bud apart and you will find seeds. So many seeds to plant or give away for a friend to grow! If you notice birds are on your sunflower heads in early fall after the blooms have finished then pick those seeds from closer to the middle. You just saved seeds again!
Plants Want To Produce Seeds
Nature designed plants to be abundant and to produce more offspring to grow. Your homegrown and home-saved seeds will be better than ones you buy because they are fresher. They’ll germinate faster too.
“Accidental” Cross-Pollination
What about if I make a mistake? You might be thinking a mistake as it relates to keeping a variety the same and preventing unwanted cross-pollination. It’s time to reframe mistakes and accidental cross-pollination. They’re new diversity and it’s ok! In fact, if you save seeds and grow them out and it isn’t what you were expecting, share it in the facebook group!
Actually one of the fun things about growing your saved seeds is that you might have some weird and wonderful looking plants. Your pumpkin accidentally crossed with a zucchini? I bet it will taste ok or you will have some real cool pumpkins to carve for Halloween. How about that for a conversation? Hey those jack o lanterns are really cool where did you buy them? Oh those? I grew them from seeds I saved out of the garden!
Your Long Island Cheese Pumpkin and Butternut Squash might have crossed? Save the seeds anyway, you might discover a better squash when you grow those bad boys out next season.
Your scarlet kale crossed with a walking stick kale? Dude if you have that please send me the seeds!
What I’m trying to say is mistakes are ok in the garden for seed saving and “accidental” cross-pollination is how we get these new varieties that other gardeners can get excited about!
Choosing Plants To Save Seed
If your curiosity is piqued by saving seeds and the possibilities then great! You will probably never have to buy seeds again!
Start with the self pollinated plants first. Tomatoes, beans, peas, peppers. Even lettuce! When lettuce starts sending up a central spike, it’s starting to bolt and create flowers and you can save the seeds!
Psst here’s a tip though, don’t save seeds from that first lettuce plant that bolts, save seeds from a later one. Why do that? You are choosing plants that are slower to bolt that means more tender non-bitter lettuce for you to harvest and enjoy!
You can start to save seeds from fruits you are selecting for whatever traits you like, maybe they are the biggest tomatoes, or a shape of pepper you really like. Maybe it’s a bean pod that has more beans per pod. Start saving those to select your plants for those traits.
You can also select plants and save seeds from those plants that are still growing well as other similar plants are having a hard time from pests or diseases to pass those traits on to the next generation you will grow from your garden. Save those seeds that are from the plants that make it from a pest or a disease your plants are adapting and you are selecting and saving seeds.
You Can Save Seeds!
You can start a living seed bank and share them with others! Even if you are growing on a balcony, you can save seeds! Gardeners have been doing this for generations and you can do it too. There’s so much joy in sharing seeds and helping someone start their garden.
What are you going to save seeds from? Let me know in the facebook group and use the tag #2021SeedSavingChallenge to let me know!
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