Seed is expensive. Since one of the tenets of the modular garden is cost effectiveness, saving seed certainly should be considered. Besides saving money there are other good reasons to do so. If you start seed saving now, in just a few years you will have developed plants that are customized for your garden. They will be far superior to any of the seeds available on the market.
Don’t be put-off by the mystique that has been built up as to the collection of seeds. All you need to know is some basics, take a little care, and simply allow the plants to go to seed. What’s more the seeds from many of the vegetables grown can be had by merely making a few minor changes in the gardening procedures.
If you want seed from your vegetables, all you have to do is to let the plants stand long enough to produce them. This is a natural happening and does not need your help. Nonetheless there are certain precautions and steps that should be followed if one is to end up with good viable seed.
Flowering plants produce seed through a process called pollination. The male part of a flower produces pollen, which, when it reaches the female part of a flower, begins a chain of events that eventually produces a seed.
Some plants self-pollinate which means that this process takes place within each flower; usually no pollen goes from one flower to another, on the same plant or between plants. These plants have what are called “perfect flowers,” having both male and female parts. No outside help is needed to produce seed.
Some plants cross-pollinate which means that pollen is transferred from one flower to another, on the same plant or to others. Generally they have “imperfect flowers.” An imperfect flower is either a male, producing only pollen, or, a female that produces only seed.
Plants with imperfect flowers can be divided into two categories: 1) Those that have both separate male and female flowers on the same plant, and 2) Those that entire individual plants are either male or female. That is, plants that have only male flowers, and plants that have only female flowers.
Pollen is spread by the wind or by insects, usually bees, If more than one variety of a vegetable is grown, care must be taken, as one cross-pollinated variety can cross with a different variety of the same species. Normally such plants need to be isolated from other varieties in distance or in time.
In a small garden isolating by adequate distance is difficult or unachievable. So for the plants that that is not possible the choices are: 1) Plant only one variety of a cross-pollinator, or, 2) Separate by time.
Since most seeds are viable for more than one year, the danger of cross-pollination between different varieties can be reduced by letting only one, or two, if widely spaced, of each variety go to seed per year, rotating on a yearly basis. In fact, you don’t need to save seeds every year. Some years seed saving could be reduced to just a few, or no plants.
As for the self-pollinated plants, ordinarily they can be planted fairly close to different varieties of the same plant without concern regarding unwanted crossings. However, it can happen, therefore it is best to treat them almost the same as the cross-pollinators.
When calculating isolation distances between cross-pollinating crops, don’t forget to take into consideration any crops that may be growing in nearby gardens. Any walls, solid fences, or high hedges between these gardens and yours will lessen the chances of crossing but not eliminate the possibility.
One precaution: Avoid hybrids for seed saving. Hybrids are a cross between two genetically distinct parents and their offspring will not be uniform. Use open-pollinated, also called standard, varieties for seed saving purposes.
All of the vegetable varieties that I have recommended to be grown are of the open-pollinated type.
Different seeds, having their own individual characteristics, require different gathering and processing methods. However, there are certain principals that can be applied to all.
1) Always choose the healthiest, most productive, earliest fruit bearing, or latest bolting leaf vegetable, disease free plants.
2) Generally, seeds should be saved from several individual plants and all mixed together, even if only a small amount is needed. This will give a wider genetic variability.
3) Seed must be completely mature in order to keep and germinate successfully. If there is risk of losing seed before it is fully ripe, cut the seed stalks and place them, flowerhead down, in large paper bags. Then store them away from direct sun in a dry airy place.
4) All seeds must be thoroughly dry. After gathering them; put in a warm airy place for a week. Remember, seeds must be dry and cool to keep well. Dampness is their worst enemy.
5) Seeds may have bits of dried plant material sticking to them. Some of this can be removed by hand. Seed can also be cleaned by pouring back and forth from one container to another, by running through a kitchen sieve, or just by placing them on a paper towel and gently blowing the debris away. But seed does not have to be perfectly clean, it won’t affect germination.
6) Store seeds in small envelopes marked with date and the variety name. Small 3⅝x6½-inch mailing envelopes are perfect for small seeds such as lettuce. Larger envelopes, the 4⅛x9½-inch business size are good for larger seeds such as peas or beans. Keep in cookie tins or jars, in a cool dark place.
7) To test viability, about a month before the planting date, put 10 seeds in a warm moist paper towel. After 3 weeks, at least 5 seeds should have germinated. If not, discard the seed.
Some plants are very easy to collect seed from, others are not. It will take a little time and experimentation before you know which seeds are easy to collect. Start with the easy ones.
Beans and peas (self-pollinated—but can cross, especially favas). They are without a doubt the easiest. All that has to be done is to let the pods mature on the vine, when they are dry and papery and the seeds inside hard (should not be easily dented with a thumbnail), they are ready to be collected.
Best if left on the plant to reach this state, but almost dry pods can be harvested and brought inside to finish drying if necessary. The dry, papery pods should be shelled, the hard seeds air dried in a warm place for a few days. After that, pick out the best looking seeds, put them in paper envelopes and store.
To save seed with a minimum of disruption to the gardening routine a bit of improvising will be necessary.
For fava beans and peas this means letting selected plants stand as long as possible. When space is needed for the succession plantings, pull up entire plants and hang upside down outdoors or indoors until ready, then process as described. (Fava bean pods will turn black when seed is ready.)
For bush beans, since no succession planting follows the main crop, just let selected plants stand until fully mature. If you get impatient and want to start winter preparation of the plot, when the thumbnail test leaves only a slight dent, pull and store until completely dry.
Tomatoes (self-pollinated). No deviation from the norm is required, simply select tomatoes from several of the best plants of each variety. Allow them to become very ripe, but not yet rotting. Pick the fruits, cut in half; squeeze out the seeds, pulp and juice into a jar. Add an equal amount of water.
Keep at room temperature for three days to ferment. Stir at least once a day. Good seed will settle on the bottom. After the three days, when you see bubbles rising up or when a layer of mold covers the surface, they’re “done.”
Add water equal to the amount of the mixture, stir briskly, let settle, pour off the scum and any seeds floating on top, Retain seeds on bottom; be careful not to pour them out. Keep repeating this procedure until only clean seeds on the bottom remain. Next pour into a sieve. Wash under running water lightly rubbing seeds against mesh to remove any gel that remains, wipe bottom of strainer with a paper towel and empty out on a dish. Then set it in a warm dry place, with good air flow, out of direct sunlight for several days. Stir often to prevent bunching up. When thoroughly dry put seeds in labeled envelopes and store.
Swiss chard (cross-pollinated). Let several plants that overwintered stand so that good cross fertilization will take place. When plants begin to die, collect the seed clusters by cutting off the tops and further dry, head down, in paper bags. When clusters are thoroughly dry and brittle, strip off the seeds, roll to break open. There will be 3 to 5 seeds per cluster; store.
Parsley (cross-pollinated). Let several overwintered plants stand. Seed is ready when brown and papery. You don’t have to wait until they are thoroughly dry. As soon as the stems of the plant look dry and seeds have a brown coat, cut the entire seed head and store it in a paper bag. If held in a dry place for 2 or 3 weeks the seed can be shaken out of the stalks and stored.
Lettuce (self-pollinated). Lettuces do cross: To guard against this, alternate seed saving of different varieties. For the spring planting, one year allow just the leaf lettuce bolt to seed. The next year only the bibb lettuce will be allowed to go to seed.
Since the seed is viable for 3 years (sometimes longer) this procedure is practical. In all cases, select plants that bolt last. Let three of each variety bolt to seed.
Seed is ready to harvest when plants begin to yellow and flowerheads develop little fluffs around them, like dandelions. When about 50 percent of flowers have these fluffs cut off flowerheads with as much stalk as possible and put head down into a large paper bag.
Let seed mature about a month, then shake heads in the bag to separate any remaining seeds from seed heads. Make sure they are thoroughly dry, separate from “fluff,” and put into labeled envelopes. As for the fall lettuce, it will not have had the proper conditions to make seed. Any produced will be of poor quality.
Arugula and endive: Collect seed from their spring sowing only. For this sowing modify harvesting method. Use cut-and-come-again method on nurse rows only. Let plants in main row mature and go to seed.
Arugula (cross-pollinated). Bolts early and will have been harvested for seed before it is time for the succession planting. Just let at least three plants stand for good cross pollination.
Endive (self-pollinated) is a biennial. But if you sow it very early, it will be exposed to cold and short days which will cause it to produce seed the first year. It can stand in place until the end of the season if the bush beans are just sown around it.
Both arugula and endive are harvested for seed in much the same way. When pods begin to turn from green to brown, harvest all. If not collected at this point, seed pods will burst when ripe and scatter all over the garden. Cut off seed heads and place headfirst in paper bags. When completely dry, crush pods between thumb and fingers; seeds will fall into bag. Seed is very fine, separate from debris by running through a sieve. Allow to dry thoroughly before storing.
Radish (cross-pollinated). When sowing fava beans, radishes are intercropped between the bean plants of the first three, and the last three rows. Let selected plants from the very first and the very last row stand for seed. Several plants are needed for transfer of pollen. Different varieties will cross-pollinate.
To be safe, alternate the variety of these “seed row” plantings from year to year. Seed is viable for about 5 years. Seed is ready when pods turn yellow-brown and are dry. Cut off pods into a paper bag, put in a dry place away from heat or sun. In about four weeks the seeds will be ready to remove from pods. Split open the pods and pick out seeds.
Beets, carrots and onions are all biennials; seed is obtained by either of two ways. 1) They are dug up in the fall, best ones picked, stored, then replanted the next spring, 2) Overwintered in place and allowed to go to seed the following season.
Broccoli goes to seed in the second year. But there are short season types that if planted very early will go to seed in one year.
Unlike annuals, seed saving from the above cannot be easily incorporated into the normal routine. As with Swiss chard and parsley special steps need to be taken if their seed is wanted.
Unless you love problems stick to annuals for seed saving.
Garlic is not grown from seed, for propagating, individual cloves have to be saved and replanted. At harvest time put aside the best bulbs. After drying out with the rest of the crop keep hung up by their tops, until their late fall planting time.