Benefits of Saving Seeds
Nature is unpredictable. You never know when an unprecedented event will occur and the aftereffects it will cause. Disease outbreaks, extreme weather, geographical issues, pests, or even politics can suddenly impact the supply chain and leave you without essentials if you aren’t prepared. Growing your food supply increases food security, self-sufficiency, and resilience against food inflation and drastic economic changes. Seed saving from the garden ensures you have constant access to your favorite crop varieties available for growing year after year.
As you grow your food supply, you will accumulate a seed collection. This collection is a huge asset when calculating how much value ONE seed can produce, especially when resources are scarce. When you save seeds from plants you’ve grown in your garden, these seeds will produce plants better suited to your specific environment for the next growing season, which can improve your yields. This increases your efficiency and frugality by not outsourcing all your seeds year after year.
How to Save Seeds from the Garden
Research your plants to understand how and when they produce their seeds. Annuals typically produce seeds yearly, while biennials need two growing seasons before they put out flowers for seed (carrots and beets are examples). Perennial plants can go into hibernation, and come back during the next season on their own – but that’s not quite the same as seed saving. Should any damage happen to that plant you risk losing it without having seeds to replace it. They will typically still produce a seed you can collect between the growing seasons.
Much of collecting seeds means letting your produce go past its harvesting prime. Typically you do this by letting them dry out or go completely ripe on the plant. Succession planting is a method you can use to save seeds and still maximize your harvest. While plant A is nearing the end of its life cycle, you start a new plant B and let what’s left of plant A go to seed. Harvesting your plants too early, even if the produce continues to ripen, may not produce viable seeds. Seed maturation will signal the plant to stop producing new blooms so do not let a plant go to seed if you still plan to pick from it.
When to Save Seeds in the Garden
You only want to save the seeds of healthy plants that show qualities you would like to see in future generations. High production, disease, and pest resistance, weather tolerance, etc. The easiest seeds to save are those that are self-pollinating. These plants only have one type of flower and their seeds will produce exact copies of their parents. They do not require as much care and consideration as collecting seeds from plants that require cross-pollination. These plants have male and female flowers that need to be pollinated, either naturally or by hand to produce fruit. These seeds will produce plants that have varying qualities depending on their parents’ genetics if they are pollinated with a different variety. It’s harder to control the variables with cross-pollinated plants without isolating them. Seeds that are advertised as hybrid are not great candidates for seed saving, as there is no guarantee that the next generation will produce a plant similar to its parent.
How Long Can You Save Seeds?
For the best germination and vigor, use seeds up to a year after saving although you can keep them much longer. The germination rate will degrade year after year, so make sure you label your seeds with the plant variety, special instructions, and the year of harvest to keep track of the quality. Store them in a cool dark place out of direct sunlight. To test if your seeds are viable before planting, attempt to sprout them using the damp paper towel method to germinate. You can also place them in water for 15 minutes to see if they sink or float – those that float won’t be viable for planting.
Seed Saving in a Small Space Garden
You will not be able to replace your entire food supply with just a small space garden, but the benefits of growing your food supply can be seen with just a supplemental amount of produce. Combining succession planting and vertical gardening can maximize the efficiency and production of your working area. Adding seed saving to your garden strategy is another opportunity to save some money, without adding extra effort in most cases.
Sources Cited
Grabowski, M., & MacKenzie , J. (n.d.). Saving vegetable seeds. University of Minnesota Extension. https://extension.umn.edu/planting-and-growing-guides/saving-vegetable-seeds
Gibson , M., & Marissa-Russell, E. (n.d.). Open-Pollinated vs. Hybrid vs. Heirloom Seeds: What Do They Mean? Gardening Channel. https://www.gardeningchannel.com/open-pollinated-vs-hybrid-vs-heirloom-seeds/
