Friday, July 29, 2016

Seed Science in the Garden

Well, the spring and summer gardening season is coming to an end. Many plants have run their course and many gardeners have too! But before retreating into our air conditioning for the month of August and leaving our gardens to fend for themselves there is one last job to be done- seed gathering. It is in the process of seed gathering that the gardener becomes a scientist, actually several scientists. Let me explain…

First the gardener thinks like a geologist.  When determining the age of rocks, geologists use radiocarbon dating. During this process a relationship between parent material and daughter material is established.   As gardeners we can think of this year’s garden as our parent material and the seeds we gather as our daughter material that will grow in to next year’s garden.

When choosing which seeds to gather, the gardener becomes a geneticist selecting seeds from the best flowers and vegetables in the garden – the biggest zinnias, the tastiest tomatoes, and perhaps only the pink cleomes. This is a chance to “weed out” the plants with unfavorable characteristics, and choose the color, size, taste, and hardiness of the plants you prefer in your “daughter garden” next year.  Saving seeds that have done well in your garden will produce plants that are better adapted to your specific growing conditions thus producing better results.

Now it’s time to become a botanist by understanding the difference between open-pollinated seeds, heritage seeds, and hybrid seeds.  The following definitions come from Seed Savers Exchange:

                “Open-pollination is when pollination occurs by insect, bird, wind, humans, or other natural mechanisms.”

                “An heirloom variety is a plant that has a history of being passed down within a family or community, similar to the generational sharing of heirloom jewelry or furniture.”

                “Hybridization is a controlled method of pollination in which the pollen of two different species or varieties is crossed by human intervention.”

The seeds of open-pollinated and heirloom plants are best for saving. The new plants grown from these seeds will remain “true-to-type” each year with only random variations. Seeds from hybrid plants will not grow “true-to-type”. If you want to grow a special hybrid variety, you will need to purchase seeds for that plant each growing season.

Once you have gotten comfortable wearing all of your scientists’ hats, it is time to get down to the details of seed-saving.

What: Some of the easiest flower seeds to harvest are poppy, morning glory, marigold, cleome, columbine, and larkspur. Easiest vegetable seeds include beans, peppers, cucumbers, and squash.

When:  This depends on whether you will be gathering wet seeds or dry seeds. Most flower seeds are gathered dry from seedpods or seed heads. Let the pods or heads turn brown and dry out before harvesting, but don’t wait too long or your seeds will fall to the ground in what is called self-sowing. Do not harvest flower seeds in the morning when they may still be moist; harvest in the heat of the day. Vegetable seeds are harvested when the vegetable is very ripe.

How:  Flower seeds need to dry for at least one week and are best stored in paper bags or envelopes that will not trap moisture. Then the labeled paper containers should be stored in a cool dark place.  For long term storage, place dried seeds in airtight containers in the refrigerator. Vegetable seeds that are harvested wet may need to be placed in water and allowed to ferment for a few days. During this process, bad seeds will float to the top and good seeds will sink to the bottom. The good seeds are removed and allowed to dry completely before storing.  More detailed instructions for seed harvesting, storage, and fermentation can be found at www.howtosaveseeds.com and www.gardeningknowhow.com

Why: I suppose the most practical reason for saving seeds is cost. A package of poppy seeds can cost as much as $5.00 when one seedpod contains zillions of free poppy seeds! Also sharing and swapping seeds is a time-honored gardening tradition. But for many gardeners, saving seeds is just another way to become further integrated into the life cycle of the gardens they love.


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