Seed saving- for starters

Seed Saving

E kore au e ngaro he kakano i ruia mai i Rangiatea

 (I will never be lost for I am a seed scattered from Rangiatea)

Some seeds are easy, anyone can do it. Some are a bit trickier and it takes a bit of an understanding of that plant family to save the seeds really well. Here are some easy ones:

Potatoes: you only need to save as least 1 of each variety and that will save a seed line. Plant that one and you’ll get about 10 more, plant them the following year (in a different spot in the garden) and you’ve got about 100 and so on.

Tomatoes: cut a tomato in half (across the equator), squeeze out all the seeds into a cup. Add some water, and leave for 2-3 days (label it). This might go mouldy which is good; it will break down the gel around the seed. Pour off the water (& vegetable matter) and leave to dry (label it).

Note: Don’t put onto a paper towel - trust me I’ve done it and it sticks which is not what you want. A saucer or lid is fine. When dry you’ll be left with the seed, pop into an envelope or container and label.

Beans: leave them to dry in the vine until they rattle in their pods. Take out, check for insects, put into an envelope or container (label it).

Peas: same as beans. When the pea or bean stalk goes to seed, it stops producing any more flowers- so you might like to have specific ones for seed saving.

The next ones are still pretty easy but take a little bit of consideration:

Corn: only heritage and heirloom or open pollinated corn will be suitable for seed saving. 1 of hybrid corn seeds will not be like the parent plants, they will be throw backs to the grandparents. Grow at least 150 – 200 corn plants of the same type of corn, more if you have room. This is quite a lot. Don’t plant any other types of corn close by this growing season, it may cross. When all the cobs are nearly ripe, go through the rows/ blocks of corn and select the strongest plants and the best cobs. Mark them with a bright coloured tie and don’t eat them. Leave these marked ones on the plants (tillars) to dry right out. This will be good seed (label it).

Trickier:

Cucurbits: pumpkins, kamokamo, melons, cucumbers squash etc.  I'll post another blog about this family.

Brassicas: all the cabbage family should be caged to guarantee pure seed.

Umbelliferae: carrots, parsnip, celery, parsley, should be caged to guarantee pure seed.

Here's some parsley going to seed right now in my garden, its from the Umbellifereae family- which has Umbels, upside down umbrella shaped seed structures.

Tamarillos: save seed like tomatoes.

Apples: don’t bother saving seeds, they’re so different, they’ve been grafted.

Peaches: grow easily from peach pip/ stones. Sometimes a quick clamp in a vice to crack the stone helps them along.

Citrus: if the tree is a round shape, this means it’s on dwarf rootstock. The rootstock is a prickly branched thing at the bottom which may on rare occasions grow small hard green little fruit. If it does, the seed from this fruit can be grown to be rootstock for other citrus trees. It’s likely that the scion wood (top part) will have very few seeds in the fruit; it will probably be chosen to be seedless.

If the citrus you have is an old fan shaped, save all the seeds you can. I am keen to get some of these if you have any? This is a heritage fruit tree.

Garlic: easy, save your best bulbs for seeds, split up into cloves and plant out on the shortest day of the year. DON’T plant out the cheap Asian supermarket stuff, it’s been treated. There are many NZ garlics that have a far superior taste.

This all brings me to the golden rule of seed saving:LABEL  LABEL  LABEL

It looks kinda like a lab experiment, but its not, just an easy way to store seeds

I had to learn to be disciplined to label everything even with Botany study at University. I’ve never been a huge fan of documents, admin systems, but with seed saving it’s essential to have a plan. Once you get a few seed types they all start to look similar and you just can’t grow them all in one season. 

You need to know:

·       When they were collected?

·       How long they will last?

·       Who collected them?

·       Where they were grown?

·       Where was the seed from?

·       Description of the plant, fruit, habit, colour

·       Special qualities, does it keep well? Disease resistant, slow to bolt?

·       What does it grow well next to? (companion plants)

Some seed savers pop the seed into the freezer for a couple for days to kill any insects that may be present.

We can look at seed storage in another blog.

I'm sorting out the database today for my seed collection to open it up to be able to share locally and turn it into a seed library- so those of you who are keen, get in touch.  I'm very happy to share, I'm very happy to try growing new things.  I've gotten well past the point where I'm not able to grow everything I've got myself, out in my suburban garden in a growing season really need to keep these growing and saving seed so the seed doesn't get old. (and lose germination rates)

Of course if you have special heritage seeds, and you want a hand looking after them, message me on Facebook or email horowhenua.kaikai@gmail.com


That'll do for starters