A seed bank means you can take ownership of your food supply without relying on grocery stores and even the annual seed shop! See how you can make the most of your seed bank by building it right in this post.
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Why Your Victory Garden Needs A Seed Bank
2020 has taught us to do many things differently and gardening was no exception! You might have faced empty shelves of seeds in the hardware store or garden nursery. Maybe you saw websites that were down or when you got to the checkout, half of your online cart was sold out.
If you did then you weren’t alone. Many people found themselves in the same situation. One way that you can overcome this is by having a seed bank. Not sure what a seed bank is? Check out this post!
A seed bank means you can shop at home for seeds to grow in your garden and start to really take control of your food supply.
Tune in to the podcast episode or read on to learn how to build your seed bank to THRIVE!
What Should You Include In Your Seed Bank?
Anyone can have a seed bank or a seed collection for their victory garden. So let’s break this down into bite-sized pieces on how to take just a collection of seeds into a thriving seed bank you can rely on.
Tip #1: Plant Love
Have plants that you love!
It sounds easy right? Have seeds of the fruits, veggies and herbs like! There’s not much point having a seed bank of things you don’t eat so fill your seed bank with fruits, vegetables and herbs that you like to eat!
You should include particular varieties which you love to eat. Maybe you adore Golden Acre cabbage or Amish Paste tomatoes. If you aren’t sure what varieties to put in because you’re new to gardening, then take a look at the Best Sellers, Staff Favorites or Customer Favorites in a seed catalog or see how to choose vegetables to grow.
Tip #2: Different Suppliers
Diversity is important in your seed bank so have seeds from different suppliers.
Seeds will likely have been grown from different regions and different seed farmers. If you are shopping for Waltham Butternut winter squash for example, if you get your seeds from a supplier on the West Coast of the US and another set of Waltham Butternut winter squash seeds from a different supplier from the East Coast of the US.
Why shop from more than one supplier?
I’m glad you asked! Seeds grown in different regions have different climate and pest or disease problems. The plants grow and adapt to these conditions and pass those genes on to the next generation.
Having seed of the same variety but from different sources means
- you have a back up if your seed is a dud or terrible germination
- you have a better opportunity of maintaining varietal purity if you want to keep the same variety going
- you can have a healthier seed population with lots of genetic diversity so your plants have the genes to grow well
Learn more about seed terminology in The Ultimate Guide To Choosing The Right Seeds To Grow
Tip #3: Top Producers
It’s great to have seeds of the varieties you enjoy to eat in your seed bank but it is also important to have seeds that will go the mile and PRODUCE yields that you can use. This is kind of important if you are trying to be self sufficient or move away from the grocery store to really own your food supply.
Varieties which you enjoy are great but let’s say you have a tomato and the taste is Out. Of. This. World. But if the plant only produces one fruit, either you need to grow a lot of plants for a decent harvest or subsidize your garden with other varieties which provide the yield to feed you and your family.
Ask other gardeners what plants produce well for your area to give you a starting point if you are new to gardening.
If you have been gardening for a little while, look through your garden journal or reflect back on those years and plants which grew like crazy.
Add seed varieties of productive plants to your seed bank so you can eat fresh from the garden or save the harvest and preserve.
Tip #4: Open Pollinated and Heirlooms
Have a range of open pollinated seeds in your seed bank. For real food security, having open pollinated seeds means they can pollinate and add to the diversity of your seeds.
Look for open pollinated, heirloom and Open Source Seed Initiative seeds to add to your seed bank. These can be seeds you have saved from your garden yourself (check out the course here for easy to save seeds) or seeds you purchase.
Tip #5: Storage
Seeds eventually lose their ability to grow know as their viability. Some seeds last a long time and are viable for a number of years. Others like parsnips last only a year, 2 years if you are lucky.
The right storage conditions for your seeds will help keep your seeds viable. And help you keep shopping from your seed bank!
Keep your seeds away from fluctuating temperature and humidity to help them last. Store them in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. A refrigerator is ideal as are a cool basement, a closet or even a root cellar. Glass jars make great seed storage and keep the moisture or critters out of your seeds!
Tip #6: Grow Often
A seed bank should be used! Since seeds are living organisms and will eventually die off, you should be growing out the seeds. Now that doesn’t mean grow everything all in one season. You can plan and rotate what you are growing out each year.
Let’s say you have 5 varieties of winter squash, you can grow the oldest seed one year, then the second oldest the next and so on.
Save What You Grow
For a seed bank to really thrive then you should grow the variety and save the seed. This is how the seed companies grow out the plants for the seed too. Saving the seeds from the variety you are growing out, adds fresh seeds to your seed bank helping to make sure that your seeds will germinate if they are stored properly.
What will you put in your seed bank?
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