10. Retaining Seeds and Propagation

One of the advantages of using heirloom seeds is the ability to collect some of those seeds at the end of each season for use next year. Most hybrid seeds are owned under patent and therefore it is illegal to collect them without seeking approval from the seed owners. So why bother with hybrids at all? Heirloom seeds are plentiful, full of variety and freely collectable.

We allow at least one plant of every variety we produce to "go to seed". That enables us to collect once the seed has developed. In the case of tomatoes we allow some fruit to slightly over ripe, pick it and keep it aside for seed saving. In the case of potaotes we keep some of the smaller stock that has produced and eyelet or two, from where the plant will develop when planted out. Broccoli and brocolini produce huge amounts of seed that can be collected once flowers have developed. In our case my wife cut off the tops of a couple of plants, put them under the house for a week or two until they dried and then put the seeds into an envelope. More about that later.


Tomatoes seeds are quite easy to collect; prepare a sealable jar three quarters full of water. Take your selected fruit (preferably a little overripe) and cut in half. Using a spoon scoop out the pulp, including seeds and place in the jar. I have selected some jaune flamme tomatoes for the example. When you have completed the scooping seal the jar and give it a good shake. Place on a window sill for 24 hours. From the example below notice how most of the gunk floats to the top.
The next day place the contents of the jar through a sieve which will leave the seeds plus a little gunk. Place this back in the jar, three quarters full of water, put the top back on and give another good shake. The next day put the contents through another sieve which will leave nothing but seeds. Place on a large piece of hand towel and dry out flat for another 24 hours. Place the dried seeds into an envelope, clearly showing which seeds are inside and store in a dry and dark location until ready to propagate.

Some seeds don't involve as much preparation. These include peas and beans, cucumber, zucchini, corn and pumpkin. But they still need to be dried out and put into dark storage of some description until ready to propagate. One of the best sources of storage is the old fashioned wages envelope which you may find in any office stationary store. You can easily write on the front the type of plant and its variety. We also use the old fashioned computer disk trays to store our seeds in which are then shut away in a small cupboard underneath the house.

Some seed is almost impossible to separate from the rest of the plant. Even if you have 20-20 vision and a good set of tweezers, don't try and separate it. Dry out the plant and then leave it in a large envelope clearly marked as per the larger seeds. At propagation time gently crush the contents in the envelope, pour into a small container with a little sand and gently shake onto a propagation tray. The rubbish surrounding the seed will become excellent compost and the seed itself will germinate on its own. This method is excellent for most herb seed, lettuce, raddish, leek, all onions and cauliflower (I never realised how small cauliflower seed was until I got into this).

Potatoes are a little different, because potatoes actually grow from potatoes. But only those that have exposed nodules or "eyelets" on their surface. Without them nothing will sprout. So if you intend to grow them you have a small task to perform. We grow the varieties Dutch Cream, King Edward and Pink Fir and each are delicious. As we harvest them we select those with nodes or eyelets and put them aside. They will not be eaten. Usually we place them in a brown paper bag, put them in the bar fridge (so they will not be mistaken for edible product) and bring them out when ready to propagate. Select the smaller ones; don't waste large edible root crop. If you grow plenty of potatoes as we do, you will have plenty to choose from.

Now for those of you who think the collection of seeds is just one big, fat, annoying task, there are plenty of Seed Saver organisations around the world ready and willing to supply your needs, for a small outlay. I have always thought that an investment here of Aust $3.75 for a packet of seeds far outweighs the cost of buying the rubbish they sell you in supermarkets. Depending on your location the following is a small selection of such organisations around the world;

In Australia try the following;

www.diggers.com.au (on the mainland)
www.southernharvest.com.au (for Tasmania)

In the United States of America try;

www.rareseeds.com
www.fedcoseeds.com
www.seedsavers.org

In Canada try;

www.heritageharvestseed.com
www.terraedibles.ca

In the United Kingdom try

www.edirectory.co.uk/chilternseeds
www.suttons.co.uk

I must apologise for I have no information about Europe or Asia. Someone may enlighten me. Some of these organisations will export but you need to check on quarantine rules in your own country. Remember this is only a selection; United States has many more. If you want a larger selection just type Heirloom Seed Savers into Google and start reading.


1 comment:

  1. Broccolini seeds very easy to collect and dry

    ReplyDelete