I am tired of buying seeds from shops. My main goal with gardening was to get away from the evil that is "money", yet all gardening projects seem to begin with buying seeds and bulbs.

I have managed to grow potatos and garlics from previous years' crops, and would like to continue this trend with other species. I will be trying some courgette seeds I saved from a marrow last year, but am interested in other plants, like onions, carrots,
etc.

The problem? Most books give absolutely no information about this. Onions, for example - I have found very good advice on growing them from seed to edible vegetable, but nothing beyond that.

In fact, most books I have seem to think that a vegetable is useless once it has gone "to seed" (which is never exlpained).

So - My question is: how (and when, and how much, etc) do I save the seeds from one year to the next of the major species?

Kae

Kae Verens wrote:
I am tired of buying seeds from shops. My main goal with gardening was
to get away from the evil that is "money", yet all gardening projects
seem to begin with buying seeds and bulbs.

I have managed to grow potatos and garlics from previous years' crops,
and would like to continue this trend with other species. I will be
trying some courgette seeds I saved from a marrow last year, but am
interested in other plants, like onions, carrots, etc.

The problem? Most books give absolutely no information about this.
Onions, for example - I have found very good advice on growing them from
seed to edible vegetable, but nothing beyond that.

In fact, most books I have seem to think that a vegetable is useless
once it has gone "to seed" (which is never exlpained).

So - My question is: how (and when, and how much, etc) do I save the
seeds from one year to the next of the major species?

Kae
Look here------
http://www.seedsave.org/issi/issi_904.html

Bill

Kae Verens wrote:

I am tired of buying seeds from shops. My main goal with gardening was to get away from the evil that is "money", yet all gardening projects seem to begin with buying seeds and bulbs.

I have managed to grow potatos and garlics from previous years' crops, and would like to continue this trend with other species. I will be trying some courgette seeds I saved from a marrow last year, but am interested in other plants, like onions, carrots
, etc.

The problem? Most books give absolutely no information about this. Onions, for example - I have found very good advice on growing them from seed to edible vegetable, but nothing beyond that.

In fact, most books I have seem to think that a vegetable is useless once it has gone "to seed" (which is never exlpained).

So - My question is: how (and when, and how much, etc) do I save the seeds from one year to the next of the major species?

Kae

Kae,

Google is your friend. Type in "seed saving" (without the quotes),
539,000 hits in 0.64 seconds.
Lots of links to available publications as well as on line info.

Ross

Bill Bolle wrote:
Look here------
http://www.seedsave.org/issi/issi_904.html

Very handy! Thank you.

Kae

On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 21:40:23 +0000, Kae Verens
wrote:

I am tired of buying seeds from shops.

(Is it possible you could adjust your newsreader to post with a line
length of oh, say, 65-70 characters? Your posts are very difficult to
read.)

seedsave.org is excellent. I haven't explored the whole site, and I'm
sure it's mentioned somewhere, but much seed-saving is dependent on
growing 'open pollinated' or 'heritage' varieties, Many veg are
hybrids which will not breed true. That is, you won't get the same
variety you saved seed from, but some combination of its ancestors.

Frogleg wrote:

On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 21:40:23 +0000, Kae Verens
wrote:


I am tired of buying seeds from shops.


(Is it possible you could adjust your newsreader to post with a line
length of oh, say, 65-70 characters? Your posts are very difficult to
read.)

sorry about that - I use so many different computers for my work, I'm
never certain of the settings. This one is set to 72, which I think is
the average. I'll check others as I use them.

seedsave.org is excellent. I haven't explored the whole site, and I'm
sure it's mentioned somewhere, but much seed-saving is dependent on
growing 'open pollinated' or 'heritage' varieties, Many veg are
hybrids which will not breed true. That is, you won't get the same
variety you saved seed from, but some combination of its ancestors.

it all seems a bit complex, but I'm sure understanding will come

Kae

Frogleg wrote:

On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 21:40:23 +0000, Kae Verens
wrote:


I am tired of buying seeds from shops.


(Is it possible you could adjust your newsreader to post with a line
length of oh, say, 65-70 characters? Your posts are very difficult to
read.)

sorry about that - I use so many different computers for my work, I'm
never certain of the settings. This one is set to 72, which I think is
the average. I'll check others as I use them.

seedsave.org is excellent. I haven't explored the whole site, and I'm
sure it's mentioned somewhere, but much seed-saving is dependent on
growing 'open pollinated' or 'heritage' varieties, Many veg are
hybrids which will not breed true. That is, you won't get the same
variety you saved seed from, but some combination of its ancestors.

it all seems a bit complex, but I'm sure understanding will come

Kae

Frogleg wrote:

On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 21:40:23 +0000, Kae Verens
wrote:


I am tired of buying seeds from shops.


(Is it possible you could adjust your newsreader to post with a line
length of oh, say, 65-70 characters? Your posts are very difficult to
read.)

sorry about that - I use so many different computers for my work, I'm
never certain of the settings. This one is set to 72, which I think is
the average. I'll check others as I use them.

seedsave.org is excellent. I haven't explored the whole site, and I'm
sure it's mentioned somewhere, but much seed-saving is dependent on
growing 'open pollinated' or 'heritage' varieties, Many veg are
hybrids which will not breed true. That is, you won't get the same
variety you saved seed from, but some combination of its ancestors.

it all seems a bit complex, but I'm sure understanding will come

Kae

Kae Verens wrote:
sorry about that - I use so many different computers for my work, I'm
never certain of the settings. This one is set to 72, which I think is
the average. I'll check others as I use them.

hehe - this one is /apparently/ set to 72.

looks like I'll have to manually break for this one (Mozilla)

Kae

Kae Verens wrote:
sorry about that - I use so many different computers for my work, I'm
never certain of the settings. This one is set to 72, which I think is
the average. I'll check others as I use them.

hehe - this one is /apparently/ set to 72.

looks like I'll have to manually break for this one (Mozilla)

Kae

On Thu, 04 Mar 2004 13:42:23 +0000, Kae Verens
wrote:

Frogleg wrote:

On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 21:40:23 +0000, Kae Verens
wrote:

I am tired of buying seeds from shops.

(Is it possible you could adjust your newsreader

sorry about that - I use so many different computers for my work, I'm
never certain of the settings. This one is set to 72, which I think is
the average. I'll check others as I use them.

Lookin' good.

much seed-saving is dependent on
growing 'open pollinated' or 'heritage' varieties, Many veg are
hybrids which will not breed true. That is, you won't get the same
variety you saved seed from, but some combination of its ancestors.

it all seems a bit complex, but I'm sure understanding will come

This may help a bit, 'though the subject is flowers.

http://www.laeom.com/f1hybridseedproduction.htm

If you really want some details,

http://tinyurl.com/2jecj

On Thu, 04 Mar 2004 13:42:23 +0000, Kae Verens
wrote:

Frogleg wrote:

On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 21:40:23 +0000, Kae Verens
wrote:

I am tired of buying seeds from shops.

(Is it possible you could adjust your newsreader

sorry about that - I use so many different computers for my work, I'm
never certain of the settings. This one is set to 72, which I think is
the average. I'll check others as I use them.

Lookin' good.

much seed-saving is dependent on
growing 'open pollinated' or 'heritage' varieties, Many veg are
hybrids which will not breed true. That is, you won't get the same
variety you saved seed from, but some combination of its ancestors.

it all seems a bit complex, but I'm sure understanding will come

This may help a bit, 'though the subject is flowers.

http://www.laeom.com/f1hybridseedproduction.htm

If you really want some details,

http://tinyurl.com/2jecj

Hi All,
there is a book called [ the royal horticultural society , propagating
plants ] a Dorling Kindersley book, www.dk.com isbn 0 7513 0365 8. this is
a very good book it will tell you all you need to know about saving seeds
and much more. I hope tis is of some use to you.

Richard M. Watkin.

"Kae Verens" wrote in message
...
I am tired of buying seeds from shops. My main goal with gardening was to
get away from the evil that is "money", yet all gardening projects seem to
begin with buying seeds and bulbs.

I have managed to grow potatos and garlics from previous years' crops, and
would like to continue this trend with other species. I will be trying some
courgette seeds I saved from a marrow last year, but am interested in other
plants, like onions, carrots, etc.

The problem? Most books give absolutely no information about this. Onions,
for example - I have found very good advice on growing them from seed to
edible vegetable, but nothing beyond that.

In fact, most books I have seem to think that a vegetable is useless once
it has gone "to seed" (which is never exlpained).

So - My question is: how (and when, and how much, etc) do I save the seeds
from one year to the next of the major species?

Kae

il Wed, 03 Mar 2004 21:40:23 +0000, Kae Verens ha scritto:

So - My question is: how (and when, and how much, etc) do I save the seeds from one
year to the next of the major species?


Well, there are books about "Gardens for free", that will describe
all the different ways of plant multiplication. But seeds are fun. If
you start with a commercial plant, the chances are the seeds will
revert back to whatever the hybrid's parents were. Which may or may
not be a nice plant. I let all my veggies go to seed (this was a
mistake with fennel). And let them drop on the ground. But far better
to collect them :-).
There are sites on the web that give information.
--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]