Saving your own seed will obviously save you money on buying in seed from the merchants. However, seed saving also enables you to select for the best plants to grow in your area, on your soil.
Although seed merchants sell excellent seeds, these are general examples. If you live in an area with short summers, for example, then by seed saving you can select for the faster maturing plants within the variety.
If your area is particularly prone to drought then you will automatically select for plants that are resistant or at least survive with less water than their general variety.
This selection is something gardeners have done for years and in the past before the EU stuck it’s nose in, you could buy regional varieties of seeds that not only performed well, but performed well under specific climate conditions.
Even in as small a country as Britain there are large differences both from the cold north to warmer south and dry eastern areas to the wet west.
Show growers do this all the time, starting with a good variety and selecting over the generations for the ideal plant. This can be anything they want, from the straightest leek to the largest onion. Hence specialist show growing suppliers refer to ‘selected seed’
Since the seed supply problems caused by the pandemic, some gardeners are looking at how they can store seeds long term. Freezing helps to store food for long periods so why not freeze your seeds against future shortage.
There is precedent for...
This introduction and general guide to seed saving is by Gloria Logan, a Canadian Gardener who saves her own seed and grows heirloom varieties of flowers, fruits and vegetables in her garden.
Collecting Seeds
Collecting the seeds is easy, but ...
Biodiversity. A little word that matters a great deal in the vegetable as well as the wider world. Biological diversity – or biodiversity – is the variety within and between species of plants, animals and micro-organisms.
If the Irish had kno...
When you buy seeds in the UK they will have a 'use by' date on the packet. Often they will be in a sealed foil packet within the main packet. This excludes air and light which keeps the seed fresh and viable so long as they're neither roasted nor frozen....
Whether they are seeds you have saved yourself or seeds you've bought and had poor results with, there is a really easy and simple way to test if it is the seeds at fault or something else.
I'm often contacted by people saying they have sown...
In this article on storing collected seeds and the viability (life) of stored seeds, Canadian author Gloria Logan draws on her experience as a long time seed-saver and grower of heirloom varieties in her garden.
Storing Collected Seeds
To store...
I've noticed many ordinary growers are confused by the term F1 hybrid and some have completely wrong ideas about what F1 hybrids are and what the advantages and drawbacks of F1 hybrids are.
What Are F1 Hybrid Seeds?
An F1 hybrid is simply the...
This article is by Gloria Logan, a Canadian Gardener who grows heirloom or heritage seed varieties of flowers, fruits and vegetables in her garden.
Heirloom or heritage seed varieties are old varieties and by definition suitable for seed saving as...
Carrots are biennial which means that they spend the first year of their life developing the tuber, the carrot that we eat. If, instead of harvesting them, you leave them in the ground in the second year the plant will use the energy stored in the root...
It's a sobering thought that people were saving pea seed for next year's crop at least 5,000 years ago and possibly 7,000 years back! Peas are not just one of our oldest crops but happily one of the easiest crops for home seed saving.
Peas tend...
Tomatoes are one of the easiest plants for seed saving. Generally they are self-fertile so there are no problems with cross-pollination. They do require some processing after harvesting though.
F1 Hybrid Tomatoes – Seed Saving
The most common p...
Although seed merchants sell excellent seeds, these are general examples. If you live in an area with short summers, for example, then by seed saving you can select for the faster maturing plants within the variety.
