Link to StumbleUpon

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

How to Save Plant Seeds, Part 2

Saving seeds from the garden is easy, very cost effective, and allows you to selectively grow quality plants. There are many activities that gardeners consider standard tasks for a successful garden, like soil preparation, irrigation, fertilization, weeding, and fall clean up. I don't put my garden to rest at the end of the season until I've added "collecting seeds" to my chore list.

Vetch pods with seeds

The first step in saving seeds is to let the plant do what it is programmed to do. Let the plant develop seeds. Many gardeners snip off the flowers of their herbs, pull up cool season plants that have started to bolt, and harvest root vegetables in their first year. These are normal gardening practices and there is nothing wrong with them, but they eliminate an opportunity to continue growing the same plants in the next year with free seeds.

All plants will produce seeds. Identifying the part of the plant that contains the seed is usually elementary, but varies by plant. Look for the seed in or near the flower. For flowers that turn into edible fruit, (like tomatoes, peppers, squash, tree fruit, peas, beans), look for the seed inside the fruit. For plants that offer up another part to eat, (like roots, stems, leaves), look for the seed to develop in the flower itself; carrots, beets, radishes, celery, rhubarb, chard, spinach, lettuce, and kale all produce seeds in their flowers. Ornamental perennials usually produce seeds in flowers too.

Sunflowers produce obvious seeds

Collecting the seeds is simple, but determining when to collect them may not be. For a seed to be viable and able to grow into a plant, it needs to be fully formed. Just because a seed looks like a seed doesn't mean it is ready to sow. The key is knowing when it should be collected. Basically, let the seed or fruit that contains the seed remain on the plant as long as possible to help it mature appropriately.

Green beans drying on the plant

Seeds will be either wet or dry at maturity. Wet seeds are the ones surrounded by fleshy or pulpy plant material of a fully mature fruit. These are the fruit parts that we often eat, including the seeds. Seeds in tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, and many squashes are wet and usually require effort to separate them from the flesh or pulp. A completely ripe fruit will provide viable seeds.

Though some seeds are the goal of the harvest, like peas and beans, they are not suitable for saving and sowing in their young, edible phase. These are actually dry seeds from a collecting perspective. For them to be fully formed and ready for sowing, they should be left on the plant until the pod dries out and the seed begins to dry.

Pea pods drying on the plant

Seeds that develop directly from a flower are dry seeds too. They should remain on the plant until the pod or husk that forms is completely dry. Many seeds can be collected slightly early, before completely drying, and they'll continue to mature, but some, like plants in the mustard family, will not. It is best to leave developing seeds on the plants as long as possible.

While wet seeds are gathered wet, the key to dry seeds is that they dry on the plant and remain dry until sowing later. If sustained rain, snow, or fog threatens when it's time to collect seeds, it's better to gather them while dry, or in a stage of drying, than to run the risk of mold and rot setting in. Dry seeds can be damaged or ruined if moisture permeates them at maturity.

Collecting seeds isn't much different than harvesting fruit and vegetables. I enter my garden with a paper bag already marked with the type of seed I'm collecting. Then I snip, pluck, or break off the seed cluster into the bag. I focus on one plant and try to harvest all of the seeds before moving on to another.

Collecting radish seed pods

Some seeds, particularly large ones, can be easy to collect. Pea and bean pods are easy to grab and break off from the plant; radishes offer up nice little pods too. Corn cobs are one of the biggest seed containers you'll gather.

Seeds that develop in clusters from little flowers are slightly more effort. Cutting off the entire cluster is usually the easiest way. Dill, parsnip, and cilantro produce little umbrellas of seeds that are easy to cut off. Spinach, basil, and thyme produce little seeds along the stem and are easiest to gather by cutting off that part of the plant. Onions and leeks produce globes of seeds and the entire ball can be cut off.

Leek flowers with seeds at the tips

After I've collected dry seeds, whether in pods or clusters, I fold over the top of the paper bag and store it along with the others in a cool, dry place. In my case that's on shelves in my garage. I'll leave them in the bags to finish drying completely. When they're ready, the seeds will need to be separated from the protective coverings.

Bags of collected seeds

For the wet seeds, it's a similar process, with a few key differences. The seeds are still collected from their pod or cluster, but it's in a moist, robust form like a cucumber, tomato, or squash. If you attempt to let the fruit dry out to collect the seeds you'll end up with a stinky, mushy goo before the seeds are ready. Wet seeds are best separated from the fruit and allowed to dry individually.

Most of these fruits will change color as a sign that the seeds are ready to harvest; they will no longer be green. Tomatoes will be a deep red (or orange, yellow, or purple depending on the type). Peppers will turn red. Pumpkins will turn orange. Cucumbers will turn orange. Eggplant will be a deep purple (or white). The point is that when the fruit reaches its zenith of color, it's usually the right time to collect seeds. Often the fruit loses its best flavor and texture at the same time.

At that point cut open the fruit and scoop out the seeds to remove them from the fruit. The seeds will usually need to be scrubbed, rinsed, or fermented to completely separate them from the pulp. You want to get individual seeds that can be dried and saved.

Scooping out cucumber seeds

You can expect that all seeds will need to be separated from some type of covering. Whether it's a pod, husk, cluster, or pulpy fruit, the covering needs to go so only the seed remains. Depending on the plant and seed type this process will vary. I'll cover the different ways for isolating the seeds and preparing them for saving in my next article.

Collecting seeds involves just a few steps. Let the plant produce seeds, allow the seeds to mature, remove the seed and its covering from the plant, then separate the seed from its covering. Most of the work is done by the plant while you wait and do other gardening chores. When the process is complete you're left with seeds ready to sow the next season or share with fellow gardeners. A saved or shared seed has a definable history that you may not discover in anonymous seed from a retail package.

Knowing where my seed comes from and being part of the process brings me even more in touch with the plants I grow. For an avid gardener, collecting seeds is as much a part of the gardening experience as amending soil with my own compost, using reclaimed organic mulch, practicing integrated pest management, or any of the many other beneficial garden practices available.

Saving seeds from the garden is easy, very cost effective, and allows you to selectively grow quality plants. There are many activities that gardeners consider standard tasks for a successful garden, like soil preparation, irrigation, fertilization, weeding, and fall clean up. I don't put my garden to rest at the end of the season until I've added "collecting seeds" to my chore list.

Vetch pods with seeds

The first step in saving seeds is to let the plant do what it is programmed to do. Let the plant develop seeds. Many gardeners snip off the flowers of their herbs, pull up cool season plants that have started to bolt, and harvest root vegetables in their first year. These are normal gardening practices and there is nothing wrong with them, but they eliminate an opportunity to continue growing the same plants in the next year with free seeds.

All plants will produce seeds. Identifying the part of the plant that contains the seed is usually elementary, but varies by plant. Look for the seed in or near the flower. For flowers that turn into edible fruit, (like tomatoes, peppers, squash, tree fruit, peas, beans), look for the seed inside the fruit. For plants that offer up another part to eat, (like roots, stems, leaves), look for the seed to develop in the flower itself; carrots, beets, radishes, celery, rhubarb, chard, spinach, lettuce, and kale all produce seeds in their flowers. Ornamental perennials usually produce seeds in flowers too.

Sunflowers produce obvious seeds

Collecting the seeds is simple, but determining when to collect them may not be. For a seed to be viable and able to grow into a plant, it needs to be fully formed. Just because a seed looks like a seed doesn't mean it is ready to sow. The key is knowing when it should be collected. Basically, let the seed or fruit that contains the seed remain on the plant as long as possible to help it mature appropriately.

Green beans drying on the plant

Seeds will be either wet or dry at maturity. Wet seeds are the ones surrounded by fleshy or pulpy plant material of a fully mature fruit. These are the fruit parts that we often eat, including the seeds. Seeds in tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, and many squashes are wet and usually require effort to separate them from the flesh or pulp. A completely ripe fruit will provide viable seeds.

Though some seeds are the goal of the harvest, like peas and beans, they are not suitable for saving and sowing in their young, edible phase. These are actually dry seeds from a collecting perspective. For them to be fully formed and ready for sowing, they should be left on the plant until the pod dries out and the seed begins to dry.

Pea pods drying on the plant

Seeds that develop directly from a flower are dry seeds too. They should remain on the plant until the pod or husk that forms is completely dry. Many seeds can be collected slightly early, before completely drying, and they'll continue to mature, but some, like plants in the mustard family, will not. It is best to leave developing seeds on the plants as long as possible.

While wet seeds are gathered wet, the key to dry seeds is that they dry on the plant and remain dry until sowing later. If sustained rain, snow, or fog threatens when it's time to collect seeds, it's better to gather them while dry, or in a stage of drying, than to run the risk of mold and rot setting in. Dry seeds can be damaged or ruined if moisture permeates them at maturity.

Collecting seeds isn't much different than harvesting fruit and vegetables. I enter my garden with a paper bag already marked with the type of seed I'm collecting. Then I snip, pluck, or break off the seed cluster into the bag. I focus on one plant and try to harvest all of the seeds before moving on to another.

Collecting radish seed pods

Some seeds, particularly large ones, can be easy to collect. Pea and bean pods are easy to grab and break off from the plant; radishes offer up nice little pods too. Corn cobs are one of the biggest seed containers you'll gather.

Seeds that develop in clusters from little flowers are slightly more effort. Cutting off the entire cluster is usually the easiest way. Dill, parsnip, and cilantro produce little umbrellas of seeds that are easy to cut off. Spinach, basil, and thyme produce little seeds along the stem and are easiest to gather by cutting off that part of the plant. Onions and leeks produce globes of seeds and the entire ball can be cut off.

Leek flowers with seeds at the tips

After I've collected dry seeds, whether in pods or clusters, I fold over the top of the paper bag and store it along with the others in a cool, dry place. In my case that's on shelves in my garage. I'll leave them in the bags to finish drying completely. When they're ready, the seeds will need to be separated from the protective coverings.

Bags of collected seeds

For the wet seeds, it's a similar process, with a few key differences. The seeds are still collected from their pod or cluster, but it's in a moist, robust form like a cucumber, tomato, or squash. If you attempt to let the fruit dry out to collect the seeds you'll end up with a stinky, mushy goo before the seeds are ready. Wet seeds are best separated from the fruit and allowed to dry individually.

Most of these fruits will change color as a sign that the seeds are ready to harvest; they will no longer be green. Tomatoes will be a deep red (or orange, yellow, or purple depending on the type). Peppers will turn red. Pumpkins will turn orange. Cucumbers will turn orange. Eggplant will be a deep purple (or white). The point is that when the fruit reaches its zenith of color, it's usually the right time to collect seeds. Often the fruit loses its best flavor and texture at the same time.

At that point cut open the fruit and scoop out the seeds to remove them from the fruit. The seeds will usually need to be scrubbed, rinsed, or fermented to completely separate them from the pulp. You want to get individual seeds that can be dried and saved.

Scooping out cucumber seeds

You can expect that all seeds will need to be separated from some type of covering. Whether it's a pod, husk, cluster, or pulpy fruit, the covering needs to go so only the seed remains. Depending on the plant and seed type this process will vary. I'll cover the different ways for isolating the seeds and preparing them for saving in my next article.

Collecting seeds involves just a few steps. Let the plant produce seeds, allow the seeds to mature, remove the seed and its covering from the plant, then separate the seed from its covering. Most of the work is done by the plant while you wait and do other gardening chores. When the process is complete you're left with seeds ready to sow the next season or share with fellow gardeners. A saved or shared seed has a definable history that you may not discover in anonymous seed from a retail package.

Knowing where my seed comes from and being part of the process brings me even more in touch with the plants I grow. For an avid gardener, collecting seeds is as much a part of the gardening experience as amending soil with my own compost, using reclaimed organic mulch, practicing integrated pest management, or any of the many other beneficial garden practices available.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

How to Save Plant Seeds, Part 1

Saving seeds from your garden is easy. With very little time and effort you can save yourself much time and money. I've been collecting seeds in my gardens for years and consider it one of the most important aspects of gardening.

Rhubarb going to seed

Saving plant seeds can reduce some gardening costs dramatically. Last year I spent over $100 on seeds for my vegetable garden. This year I spent nothing. Granted, last year was the first major planting of my new, big, vegetable garden. And this year I sowed many of the seeds left over from last year's big purchase.  But sowing seeds that I collected enabled me to continue growing plants that do well in my garden, at no additional cost.

I've grown green pole beans in my garden for about 12 years. The only time I bought green pole bean seeds was about 12 years ago. At the end of each summer I save some of the bean seeds and the next year I plant them. I foresee repeating this process until I'm no longer able to stick my finger in the soil. One purchase of green pole bean seeds over a decade ago has produced a legacy of innumerable plants and dozens of jars of pickled green beans.

My green beans

Vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers all produce seeds that can be saved and sown. If you discover a plant that you like, that performs well in your garden, or that has expensive seeds, you may be able to continue growing it at no additional cost.

At this point it's important to discuss important concerns about saving and sowing garden seeds. First, some plants are patented. A plant patent protects the rights of its inventor and prohibits reproducing the plant asexually. That means you aren't legally authorized to propagate such a plant from cuttings, divisions, grafts, buds, and all other asexual propagation methods. However, seeds are a sexual form of propagation and aren't covered under patent protection. Therefore, some gardeners hope to reproduce patented plants from seeds.

This raises an important second concern of collecting seeds. Seeds from hybrid plants will not grow true to the parent plant. A hybrid plant is almost every one with a fancy, copyrighted name. Virtually every patented plant is a hybrid. Plants with extraordinary color, shape, size, and growth characteristics are often hybrids.

Hybrid plants are created by cross pollinating two parent plants. The resulting hybrid offspring may have characteristics of the parents or may have completely different attributes. Because of genetic variation, the seeds of these hybrids will produce a mix of offspring that may not resemble the hybrid parent at all. To produce an exact reproduction of a hybrid plant, asexual reproduction is necessary; hence, the legal limitations of patent protection.

The only way to be ensure the seed you collect will grow into the plant you're trying to reproduce is to collect seeds from "open-pollinated" or "heirloom" plants.

Open-pollinated plants are the ones you see all around you in nature. The flowers bloom, insects and wind transfer the pollen to other flowers, seeds develop, and those seeds grow into the same kind of plants to start the process all over again. Collecting and sowing open-pollinated seeds will usually produce replicas of the parent plant.

"Heirloom" is the name that the gardening industry has given to these kind of plants. Many plant growers and nurseries recognized long ago the value in producing seeds and plants with consistent characteristics. Seeds from heirloom plants can be saved and when sown will grow into the same plant. Thankfully, heirloom plants aren't patented.

It's also important to recognize the biggest limitation with collecting seeds from open-pollinated plants: they open pollinate.  That means that if you're growing one heirloom tomato next to another heirloom tomato, they will cross pollinate. The seeds will produce hybrid plants and may not resemble either of the parent heirloom plants. If you want to collect true seeds from open-pollinated plants you need to be sure they haven't been compromised or contaminated by another, similar plant.

With a focus on collecting open-pollinated plant seeds, the next thing to know is how the plant produces seeds. Annual, biennial, and perennial plants will all provide seeds, but not all in the same way.

Annual plants complete their life cycles in one year. They grow from seed, mature, flower, set seed, and die. Many of our garden plants fall into this category: tomatoes, peppers, squash, peas, beans, cucumbers, lettuce, basil, dill, cilantro. You'll be able to collect these seeds the same year you plant.

Biennial plants have a two-year life cycle. They grow from seed, mature, lie dormant in winter, grow, flower, set seed, and die. Many of the biennial plants we grow in the vegetable garden are harvested before they produce seeds:  parsley, carrots, beets, onions, and parsnips will only seed when left in the ground for a full year. Flowering plants like Black-eyed Susan, Foxglove, Forget-Me-Nots, Sweet William, and some Hollyhocks are biennials. You have to wait a year to harvest seeds from these plants

Parsnips setting seed in their 2nd year

Perennial plants live longer than two years. They grow from seed and mature, but may take a few years before they flower and set seeds. Once they do, they can be expected to flower virtually every year. In the vegetable garden, asparagus, artichoke, and rhubarb are the ones most gardeners know (I treat horseradish as a perennial too, leaving it to return each year and harvesting as needed). The number of perennial flowering plants is too numerous to list.

Plants flower and produce fruit after pollination. The fruit may be large and edible or small and almost imperceptible. In many perennial flowers the fruit isn't much more than an enlargement at the base of the flower where the ovary is. Some fruit may be pods with the seeds inside. Some may be husks. Some may connect to feathers or parachutes. Most of the fruit we eat has seeds inside (with the exception of strawberries); in some the seeds are edible (pomegranate) and in others they may be toxic (peaches).

Regardless of how big the fruit or how big the seed, the process of saving seeds is basic. You remove the seeds from the fruit, allow them to dry, place them in a clean container, label them, and store them in a cool, dry location. Some seeds will only remain viable for one year while others remain viable for centuries; it all depends on the plant.

Many seeds need exposure to cold temperatures before germination, also known as vernalization. If the seed you're saving is from a perennial that can handle cold, hard winters, it probably needs to be stored in temperatures below 50F degrees (10C) for a period of time. Usually, four to six weeks in a refrigerator is enough. I store my seeds in an unheated garage or shed through the winter.

I'll cover the procedures of how to collect and save specific seeds from a variety of plants in my next article.

While I save many seeds and grow much of my garden from them, I'm not advocating that you take business away from nurseries and seed companies.

In exchange for the opportunity to begin growing a new heirloom plant from a seed that a seed company provides, I'm more than willing to let them sell me hybrid seeds that I can't reproduce. There are also many heirloom plants that don't do well in my garden, but I don't know that until I've tried. The price of that seed is written off as a failed experiment.

If I can save seeds from a plant I've grown successfully and reproduce it in the future at no additional cost, I will. But this represents just one aspect of gardening costs. I'm continually on the lookout for new plants to try in my garden. Some are heirlooms and some are hybrids. Some are seeds and some are plants. Each year I try new things. While I didn't buy any seeds this year, I did buy a number of plants.

Saving seeds spotlights the ability of the gardener to find a specific plant that can be grown year after year with continued success in an individual garden. In my garden, only dill, cilantro, beans, and pumpkins are plants that I grow every year from saved seeds. This year I've also collected seeds from cucumbers, radishes, leeks, parsnips, shallots, beets, peas, vetch, and spinach. Some of those may return for years to come and some may fade away.

I'll continue saving seeds and sowing them in an effort to find plants that provide me what I want, whether it be fruit, flowers, or some other result. It would be great to find another plant like the green beans that I've come to love so much for the many years of pickled green beans they produced.

Saving plant seeds doesn't take much effort, but can pay huge dividends. Join me in my next article to find out more about it.

Saving seeds from your garden is easy. With very little time and effort you can save yourself much time and money. I've been collecting seeds in my gardens for years and consider it one of the most important aspects of gardening.

Rhubarb going to seed

Saving plant seeds can reduce some gardening costs dramatically. Last year I spent over $100 on seeds for my vegetable garden. This year I spent nothing. Granted, last year was the first major planting of my new, big, vegetable garden. And this year I sowed many of the seeds left over from last year's big purchase.  But sowing seeds that I collected enabled me to continue growing plants that do well in my garden, at no additional cost.

I've grown green pole beans in my garden for about 12 years. The only time I bought green pole bean seeds was about 12 years ago. At the end of each summer I save some of the bean seeds and the next year I plant them. I foresee repeating this process until I'm no longer able to stick my finger in the soil. One purchase of green pole bean seeds over a decade ago has produced a legacy of innumerable plants and dozens of jars of pickled green beans.

My green beans

Vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers all produce seeds that can be saved and sown. If you discover a plant that you like, that performs well in your garden, or that has expensive seeds, you may be able to continue growing it at no additional cost.

At this point it's important to discuss important concerns about saving and sowing garden seeds. First, some plants are patented. A plant patent protects the rights of its inventor and prohibits reproducing the plant asexually. That means you aren't legally authorized to propagate such a plant from cuttings, divisions, grafts, buds, and all other asexual propagation methods. However, seeds are a sexual form of propagation and aren't covered under patent protection. Therefore, some gardeners hope to reproduce patented plants from seeds.

This raises an important second concern of collecting seeds. Seeds from hybrid plants will not grow true to the parent plant. A hybrid plant is almost every one with a fancy, copyrighted name. Virtually every patented plant is a hybrid. Plants with extraordinary color, shape, size, and growth characteristics are often hybrids.

Hybrid plants are created by cross pollinating two parent plants. The resulting hybrid offspring may have characteristics of the parents or may have completely different attributes. Because of genetic variation, the seeds of these hybrids will produce a mix of offspring that may not resemble the hybrid parent at all. To produce an exact reproduction of a hybrid plant, asexual reproduction is necessary; hence, the legal limitations of patent protection.

The only way to be ensure the seed you collect will grow into the plant you're trying to reproduce is to collect seeds from "open-pollinated" or "heirloom" plants.

Open-pollinated plants are the ones you see all around you in nature. The flowers bloom, insects and wind transfer the pollen to other flowers, seeds develop, and those seeds grow into the same kind of plants to start the process all over again. Collecting and sowing open-pollinated seeds will usually produce replicas of the parent plant.

"Heirloom" is the name that the gardening industry has given to these kind of plants. Many plant growers and nurseries recognized long ago the value in producing seeds and plants with consistent characteristics. Seeds from heirloom plants can be saved and when sown will grow into the same plant. Thankfully, heirloom plants aren't patented.

It's also important to recognize the biggest limitation with collecting seeds from open-pollinated plants: they open pollinate.  That means that if you're growing one heirloom tomato next to another heirloom tomato, they will cross pollinate. The seeds will produce hybrid plants and may not resemble either of the parent heirloom plants. If you want to collect true seeds from open-pollinated plants you need to be sure they haven't been compromised or contaminated by another, similar plant.

With a focus on collecting open-pollinated plant seeds, the next thing to know is how the plant produces seeds. Annual, biennial, and perennial plants will all provide seeds, but not all in the same way.

Annual plants complete their life cycles in one year. They grow from seed, mature, flower, set seed, and die. Many of our garden plants fall into this category: tomatoes, peppers, squash, peas, beans, cucumbers, lettuce, basil, dill, cilantro. You'll be able to collect these seeds the same year you plant.

Biennial plants have a two-year life cycle. They grow from seed, mature, lie dormant in winter, grow, flower, set seed, and die. Many of the biennial plants we grow in the vegetable garden are harvested before they produce seeds:  parsley, carrots, beets, onions, and parsnips will only seed when left in the ground for a full year. Flowering plants like Black-eyed Susan, Foxglove, Forget-Me-Nots, Sweet William, and some Hollyhocks are biennials. You have to wait a year to harvest seeds from these plants

Parsnips setting seed in their 2nd year

Perennial plants live longer than two years. They grow from seed and mature, but may take a few years before they flower and set seeds. Once they do, they can be expected to flower virtually every year. In the vegetable garden, asparagus, artichoke, and rhubarb are the ones most gardeners know (I treat horseradish as a perennial too, leaving it to return each year and harvesting as needed). The number of perennial flowering plants is too numerous to list.

Plants flower and produce fruit after pollination. The fruit may be large and edible or small and almost imperceptible. In many perennial flowers the fruit isn't much more than an enlargement at the base of the flower where the ovary is. Some fruit may be pods with the seeds inside. Some may be husks. Some may connect to feathers or parachutes. Most of the fruit we eat has seeds inside (with the exception of strawberries); in some the seeds are edible (pomegranate) and in others they may be toxic (peaches).

Regardless of how big the fruit or how big the seed, the process of saving seeds is basic. You remove the seeds from the fruit, allow them to dry, place them in a clean container, label them, and store them in a cool, dry location. Some seeds will only remain viable for one year while others remain viable for centuries; it all depends on the plant.

Many seeds need exposure to cold temperatures before germination, also known as vernalization. If the seed you're saving is from a perennial that can handle cold, hard winters, it probably needs to be stored in temperatures below 50F degrees (10C) for a period of time. Usually, four to six weeks in a refrigerator is enough. I store my seeds in an unheated garage or shed through the winter.

I'll cover the procedures of how to collect and save specific seeds from a variety of plants in my next article.

While I save many seeds and grow much of my garden from them, I'm not advocating that you take business away from nurseries and seed companies.

In exchange for the opportunity to begin growing a new heirloom plant from a seed that a seed company provides, I'm more than willing to let them sell me hybrid seeds that I can't reproduce. There are also many heirloom plants that don't do well in my garden, but I don't know that until I've tried. The price of that seed is written off as a failed experiment.

If I can save seeds from a plant I've grown successfully and reproduce it in the future at no additional cost, I will. But this represents just one aspect of gardening costs. I'm continually on the lookout for new plants to try in my garden. Some are heirlooms and some are hybrids. Some are seeds and some are plants. Each year I try new things. While I didn't buy any seeds this year, I did buy a number of plants.

Saving seeds spotlights the ability of the gardener to find a specific plant that can be grown year after year with continued success in an individual garden. In my garden, only dill, cilantro, beans, and pumpkins are plants that I grow every year from saved seeds. This year I've also collected seeds from cucumbers, radishes, leeks, parsnips, shallots, beets, peas, vetch, and spinach. Some of those may return for years to come and some may fade away.

I'll continue saving seeds and sowing them in an effort to find plants that provide me what I want, whether it be fruit, flowers, or some other result. It would be great to find another plant like the green beans that I've come to love so much for the many years of pickled green beans they produced.

Saving plant seeds doesn't take much effort, but can pay huge dividends. Join me in my next article to find out more about it.