seed saving 101

saving plant seed from the garden is beneficial financially and for genetic plant integrity in your climate. it's not hard to do, but can take up extra space in the garden for a prolonged period of time and some waiting around (ie:broccoli). so when planning your garden, it's good to know how long it takes for certain plants to go to seed. for example- if the seed is mature in the edible fruit (tomatoes) or if it matures in a later phase of the plants life/cycle (broccoli). some seed saving can be a bit tricky, like tomatoes, whereas other seeds are easily gathered.

when saving seeds you want to keep in mind that each seed has its own genetic code with different individual traits. so you'll want to collect seeds from fruits with desirable traits- germination time, flowering time, size, taste, color, disease/pest resistance.....plants with individual fruits (tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, beans) it's easy to see which fruits to save for seed (first to ripen, last to ripen....). plants without specific fruits (broccoli, lettuce, kale, spinach) you look at the individual plant as a whole (last to bolt, fast grower, disease/pest resistant, production). one way to do this is to have several color-coded flagging ribbons, sticks, etc. to correspond with different traits. it's probably a good idea to collect seed to collect seed from at least two plants of the same variety for genetic diversity. this prevents susceptibility sudden changes in climate or pest presence (we've all heard of the irish potato famine......). planting a few seeds from every year of collection also helps increase the gene flow amongst your plants and it is probably a good idea to plant some seeds from an outside source (purchased, from a neighbor, etc.) every five years or so to widen the gene pool.

another thing to keep in mind is hybridization amongst species in the same families. some plants are more susceptible to hybridization than others, such as brassicas (broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale) and winter squash (butternuts, acorns, pumpkins). to prevent hybridization limit the varieties grown within the same family and plant as far from each other as possible. something else to consider is how the plant is pollinated (insect generalist, insect specialist, wind) so that you can create appropriate buffers in between the plants; and whether it can be pollinated by itself. if the plant is self-pollinating you would only need one, however if it is not you would need at least two within a close proximity. just for clarity: you can plant as many butternut squash plant you can fit in an area, but make sure your acorn squash are at the other end of the garden with plenty of flowering plants in between.

still to come: seed saving 201, Seed Saving Simplicity