by Birgitt Evans, ABG Board member and Master Gardener
Ever since I started growing food at 13, I have been fascinated by the miracle of seeds. You can take a tiny round object, place it in the ground and a plant will emerge from that spot. And if it is a vegetable seed, you can eat all or part of that plant.
Consider the magic in seeds. You could carve an acorn out of wood, paint it and set it next to a real acorn. Even though the two might look identical, they are not in any way. One will forever remain a bit of wood while the other contains the power to become a mighty oak tree, able to shade the ground, sequester carbon and feed many animals, from oak moth caterpillars to squirrels to people. Magic indeed. The kind of magic that all human civilizations have been built upon.
Alas, we are losing the seeds that nourish us. Chemical companies such as Bayer (which now owns Monsanto) and DuPont are buying up the stuff of life at an alarming rate so that they can sell more chemicals. The pandemic we are in has demonstrated how fragile, unsustainable and fundamentally inequitable our current food system is. Healthy food is a fundamental right for all people, one without which it is hard to achieve full potential.
I have collected, saved and shared seeds, grown my own food and educated others about growing food for decades to ensure that, when a crisis like the one currently upon us strikes, we are not completely helpless. It is time for everyone to rise up with me and take back our seeds and even to breed better varieties. We need to replace the thousands of varieties that have been lost in the past 40 years – the length of time that I have been growing food.
Some seeds are easier to save than others, because they are self-pollinating and so – providing you plant open pollinated varieties and not hybrids – they will easily self-replicate the same variety. However, how concerned you are about purity depends on your goal. If you are planting for food security, it may be fine to save seeds for beets and not a specific variety of beets. If you are trying to save Cherokee Purple tomatoes though, it is important to select seed from the best plants, to rogue out non-typical plants, to save from a minimum number of plants and to plant those plants a certain distance from other tomato plants. This will limit the overall number of varieties you can grow for seed in a small urban yard. Also take into account that you will not be able to eat some or all of the plants or fruits that you are saving seed from. For instance, cucumbers and zucchini need to ripen far past the stage where they would usually be eaten.
Four Easy Seeds to Save and One More Difficult One
Beans and Peas
Both are self-pollinating and easy to grow. It is best to have a minimum of 25 plants of the variety being saved and to keep those plants 50 feet from any other beans or peas. (Note: You can separate by time too, growing beans sequentially.) Wait until the pods are fully dried, shell the seeds and place in a bowl to dry for another week. Then put them in a jar and place the jar in the freezer for a week to kill bean weevil larvae. Remove and warm the jar before opening it so the seeds don’t get wet.
Lettuce
Save seeds from a minimum of 10 plants and isolate them 10 feet from other lettuce varieties. Wait for the plants to bolt and send up a flower stalk. The seeds are ready when the flower turns brown and little parachutes appear, ready to carry off the seeds. Flowers bloom and ripen seeds unevenly, so pick ripe seeds every few days. Note that you can harvest a few early leaves from loose leaf lettuces before letting them go to seed, but head lettuces must be grown entirely for seeds. Grow more plants than you need and eat the weaker plants.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes also have complete flowers and the pollen will drop off the anthers onto the stigma. Collect seed from good looking tomatoes from 5 – 10 different plants planted 10 – 50 feet from other tomato varieties. Wait until the fruits are overripe, cut them open and squeeze the juice with the seeds into a cup. The seeds are covered with a gelatinous sheath that contains germination inhibitors. Ferment the seeds in their juice for several days to remove the coating and then rinse them with cool water. Good seeds will sink. Discard any that float. Dry thoroughly and store.
Squashes and Pumpkins
There are four different species of Cucurbita that we call squashes and pumpkins and they all have separate male and female flowers. The pollen from the anther in the male flower must make it onto the stigma of the female flower, a feat normally accomplished by squash bees or other bees. Ideally, you would want to grow 20 plants of the same squash. Since bees travel long distances, you need to hand pollinate. Go out the evening before and find several swelling buds on female and male flowers and tape all the flowers shut. The following morning, remove the tape carefully from one side of the female flowers, pick the male flowers and remove the petals. Use the male flowers like paintbrushes to introduce pollen to the female flowers. Retape the female flowers and put a colored ribbon around the stem of the fruit so you can tell which ones you are saving seeds from. Allow them to ripen fully, cut open harvest and dry the mature seeds.
Store seeds someplace cool and dry. Pea and bean seeds can be stored in jars, but smaller seeds are best kept in paper envelopes so that they can breathe. And be sure to carefully label seeds with the variety, date and location collected. Share your seeds liberally. They are, after all, the gift of life.
For more information on seeds, read:
The Seed Garden by The Gardeners & Farmers of Centre Terre Vivante
Seed to Seed by Susan Ashworth
Go further:
Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties by Carol Deppe