If you are a gardener or a homesteader saving seed is a fun activity to do. Find out the importance of saving seed and how to become more self reliant by building a seed bank. Find out how to start a seed bank at home in this post.
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You can listen to the Homesteading & Gardening In The Suburbs With Misfit Gardening Podcast about this post or read on below to dive in and learn about starting a seed bank.
What Is A Seed Bank?
What if I told you that seeds could be more valuable than money? Worth more than the currency in your bank account, the coins in that jar of change on the bookshelf. You’d think I might be going crazy right? Well a seed bank might save you some money going forwards after you have started it but a seed bank is so much more than just finances.
A seed bank is an insurance policy. It is a way to store native and heirloom seeds for fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs and to preserve them to use in later years to grow in case of extinction, climate changes, war or catastrophic events occur which destroy your regular supply of seeds. Without seeds (or pollinating insects like bees) we wouldn’t have food, our survival depends on nature and working with it, not by controlling it.
It is so important now to save as many plant species as we can from going extinct and we are losing more and more plant species globally due to pests, disease, pollution, climate change and human activities. Even the varieties of produce we eat has declined massively. According to the movie Seed: the Untold Story
As a gardener or a homesteader, it is important for you to save seeds from edible plants which grow well in your garden so you can be the guardian or custodian of those strains for the future. It’s also wonderful to share the story of heirloom seeds your family has saved over generations.
There are more than 1,000 seed banks are in existence around the world and the most famous is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway. This seed vault has been built to handle doomsday and is where humankind will turn to if the environment is destroyed. Most seed banks around the world send out a proportion of its most valuable seeds to a second seed bank, just in case something unexpected should happen to the original seed.
Seeds in many global seed bank may have been found in ancient tombs, caves of early dwellers or from far reaching explorers who gathered samples on an expedition deep into the jungle. Their longevity or ability to germinate in long-term storage is unknown.
Why You Should Start A Seed Bank
Some banks store seeds only related to agricultural crops and act as an insurance policy against any genetic loss in food varieties available to grow. Other seed banks hold seeds from rare species from around the world and other seed banks may store seeds for purposes like restocking populations, providing humanitarian aid or plant breeding research projects.
Having a personal seed bank allows you to save the seeds which you love. Those plants which adapted and grew in your area or possess those characteristics you favor such as the sweetest scented rose, the prettiest morning glory flowers, the biggest raspberries, the most fantastic cider apples, the squashes which survived powdery mildew and vine borers, the early ripening tomatoes etc. By building your own seed bank, you decide which plants you are saving seed from and why.
I recently purchased Grow Your Own Groceries and was watching the videos with my husband to help him get inspired for my plans to expand the homestead gardens even more to be able to produce our own seed to grow. Whilst I have always grown a garden using biointensive gardening methods, I have never really paid too much attention to seed saving until recently and the videos gave the the idea to start setting aside plants at the end of the rows to dedicate for seed saving to preserve those plants which have grown well or those which we have really enjoyed eating.
Get Involved: How To Start A Seed Bank
There are a few things you need to get you started on building your own seed bank:
- Seeds
- Paper seed envelopes
- Pencil/pens/markers
- Paper lunch bags
- Glass jars
- Rice or desiccant packs
- Mylar pouches
- Metal storage containers like ammo boxes
or cookie/biscuit tins
Don’t worry if that seems a bit overwhelming, keep reading to see how you can start a seed bank with what you already have.
Seeds
Obviously, you need seeds to start a seed bank but what seeds to save? I recommend having a variety of seed in your seed bank, not only multiple vegetables, herbs, fruit and flowers but different varieties of those.
I store 3 types of seed in my seed bank; hybrid, heirloom and open pollinated saved from my garden. I know many of you reading this may have just seen hybrid seeds and think that I’m talking about GMO or genetically modified seeds and I’m not. I know gardeners who only grow hybrid or F1 varieties of tomatoes because they produce bigger yields or they have better resistance to blight. F1 hybrids are made by pollinating two plants which have the traits gardeners or farmers are looking for which produces offspring that exhibit both traits this is plant breeding. Seeds which are saved from these hybrid plants F1 will not be the same as those hybrids they grew so the seed is only good for that variety once.
Heirloom seeds are old, historical varieties which are pollinated with the same variety to keep the seed true to type for example winter hubbard squashes are pollinated with other winter hubbard squashes. The growers producing the seed go to some amazing lengths to protect the plants they are growing from cross pollinating with other varieties which will pollinate with the plant. For example, winter squash will cross with pumpkins, zucchini and melons but won’t cross with cucumbers grown nearby.
Saving seed from your own garden will be open pollinated and likely to have crossed with other similar plants growing in your neighborhood. Your seeds will adapt to your local climate over time and may perform much better in the garden than heirlooms or hybrids. I touched on it earlier in the post but you want to save seeds from your garden which have some characteristics you love or those which were able to survive pests or disease or they were able to grow in a flood or in drought. You can learn more about types of seed in my in depth post here.
I recommend saving some hybrid F1 seeds, heirloom or heritage seeds and open pollinated seeds from your local area. I recommend this for a couple of reasons mostly “We’re not at home to Mr Cockup” as the saying goes meaning, have a backup! The reasons why I recommend saving these 3 types of seed are:
- To give a greater probability of being able to grow the plants
- To give a greater probability of getting a harvest thereby being able to feed people
- To encourage diversity in the growing area
- To have a backup in case of germination failure
If you are saving your own seeds from the garden. paper lunch bags work great to place over the plant and allow the seeds to dry. Once dry place them in a paper seed envelope
If you have some seeds you have purchased, place a portion of those into an envelope or pouch with plant information and the date they were packed (it is usually on the seed packet) and add them to your preferred storage method.
Related Post: Hybrid Seeds Are Not The Seed Of Evil
Storing Seeds
To get the best out of your seed bank, you need to keep your seeds dark, cool and dry. Many people store their seeds in paper envelopes, resealable bags or foil pouches in a metal tin. Old biscuit or cookie tins work great and you can pick these up from thrift stores and charity shops. For larger seed bank collections or if you are short on space, ammo boxes
If you happen to have glass jars available from cooking sauces, pickles or a canning supply which your family have asked you to consolidate, you can turn your jars into seed banks by using rice. You can easily make a jar seed bank by following the steps below:
- Fill a canning jar 1/3 full of dry rice.
- Spread the rice to onto an ungreased baking tray.
- Bake the rice at 350F for about 45 minutes, or until it is really, really dry.
- Place the rice into the jar whilst it is still warm and allow to cool completely.
- Add your packets of seeds.
- Put the lid on and leave the seeds in a cool dark place.
Many people keep seeds in basements or freezers. You can take your seeds out of the jar and vacuum seal into pouches
Using The Seeds In Your Seed Bank
You will want to grow out some of your seeds each year to be able to save more seed and to ensure you have seeds which will still germinate. To do this, you can check for germination and sow them in your garden. Ensure to use the oldest seeds you have stored and rotate though the varieties you are growing and using. Kind of like how you rotate through canned goods in your pantry.
You can share seeds from your seed bank at local seed swaps, share them with organizations looking to store seeds, share them with friends, family and other gardeners.
To start your own seed bank you need to ensure you have a cool, dark and dry place to store them in. Keep your seeds labeled with what the plant is, the variety and when you harvested the seed to ensure you can rotate through your seed bank and replenish as your seed gets older.
You can store your seeds in foil pouches, paper envelopes and keep them in metal boxes, cans, tins or jars.
Save the seed from your plants each year from your garden and save some heirloom varieties of seed too. You can also save some hybrid F1 seeds you have purchased but you will not be able to save these seeds to grow the same variety, hybrid seeds are only good for that plant to grow in that one season. If you save hybrid seeds, you need to save them in bulk but you should not rely on these for your seed bank instead save open pollinated local varieties and heirlooms with your hybrid seeds.
A diverse seed bank will enable you to grow food in years to come and be self reliant from the need to purchase seed or produce from the grocery store. You can learn more about how to save seed in this article by Seed Savers Exchange.
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