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Seeds
Old_codger,
Our input would be if you are looking to start saving/storing seed for fear of a time when seed stock for growing is no longer available we would suggest a multi faceted approach of the other replies. Buying off the shelf packets of seed at the end of the year for cheap cheap is a great option for low cost however as has been somewhat stated it can be a crap shoot. Some will save and some will not but in a survival situation you arent going to be throwing a tantrum if your leeks dont sprout. You will eat whatever comes up. So we would say go ahead and build a library of seeds from the garden center and try to rotate out all of the oldest every couple years with new. This way you will always have, at the least, 2 years garden in your library. The plants you grow from these packets may or may not be viable for saving seed but they will at the least provide you with food to eat and preserve. In our experience when we purchase lots of cheap packets at the end of a season, each year that passes germination is reduced by 50 percent though there are exceptions in both directions. I wouldnt want to even remotely rely on packets saved for several years for my food supply though they are a great adjunct. To start saving your own seed and building a never ending self generated supply of seed you will want to start growing "open pollinated" or "heirloom" plants in your garden. They are the same with the only difference being that heirlooms are varieties which are at least 50 years old. As was stated, many of the garden center varieties you buy can be hybrids which means any one of a number of things can happen when you save the seed from these plants. They may be sterile and not germinate at all, you may get only one strain of the cross, they may not produce fruit, or they may grow fine for a couple years and then fizzle. Hence crapshoot. Be forewarned however that certain seed can be pretty tough to save and additionally some vegetables are biennials which makes saving seed difficult in some climates. That said, if you really want to insure that you will have viable seed for growing it would be best to grow a season or two's worth of seed every year. This way you have fresh seed for the next two years and should be safe. Simple crops like tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cukes, melons, many peppers, sunflowers, beets, are easy to save seed from with the right procedure and a few fruit will provide you with LOTS of seed. Lettuce and spinach are simple to save seed from as well. Other than new varieties we grow our own lettuce, spinach, from saved seed every year. All of the seed catalogs offer many open pollinated and heirloom varieties additionally a google on "heirloom seeds" will find you many suppliers of strictly heirloom seed. www.seedsavers.org is a good resource as well as books like The New Seed Starters Handbook by Nancy Bubel are good. Good luck, Mark old_codger wrote: North wrote: Lets try this again :-) Note the groups that were added. n. Ok, thanks north. I think Alan Connor posted something on this a while ago but I can't seem to find it. We'll see what the other groups can add. Thanks. |
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