Sprouting Up in Your Garden

Vol. 1, Issue 6 Newsletter

Monday, August 17, 2009         

Farm News: 

This week, not only are we continuing to plant for fall seedlings but also we started collecting seeds from some of our spring/summer plants. We started off our seed collecting journey with a simple "hmmm, let's save this and see what happens" attitude, which expanded quickly to an "awesome!" attitude. We have learned a lot since that first fateful "hmmm" and now have made it part of our mission to save seeds whenever possible from things that we grow. Sometimes it is simply to save money by saving the seeds for next season's plantings, but other times we are helping to propagate a rare or unusual variety by choosing the strongest growing plant or plants, and saving those seeds. It is sometimes a tricky prospect since some genera (genuses) have seeds that all look remarkably similar (i.e. tomatoes) and other times it is fairly easy to tell them apart (as with most beans). Much like gardening itself, seed saving can become quite addictive. Even the occasional accidental cross-breed can make you feel like a mad scientist in a soil lab! We have two of them this year that we are looking at trying to continue - a Japanese popcorn crossed with Hopi Blue corn (for a few purple-tinged popcorn kernels) and also a Black Aztec corn crossed with a Hopi Pink corn (for 2 gorgeous cranberry-kernelled corn cobs). Yup, we planted them way too close and had fun doing it!

Topic of the Week:  

Saving Seeds For and From Your Garden

If you have never saved seeds from your own garden before, let me start with some very important basics. They can seem simple but can cause you to throw your hands up in disgust at your Frankenstein garden if you ignore them (unless you want to be a garden mad scientist?):

1) Never save seeds from a hybrid, especially an F-1 or F-2 hybrid! It is highly unlikely that you will get the same plant back, as you do not have the parent plants to rebreed that variety; only the company you bought them from does, and I doubt they will share. When looking to save seeds, go for an OP (open-pollinated) type which have been hand-pollinated to cross their genetics until it grows true and stable in the field (the old-fashioned way) and should replicate. Or look for Heirlooms which have been grown for many generations and stay true to form year after year.

2) Be aware of how your plant is pollinated! Your choices are wind-borne, insect-borne, or self-pollinating types. It seems simple enough, but if you are really trying to keep a particular variety alive, you can damage (or occasionally improve) the genetic make-up of that breed by accidentally cross-breeding it. And, yes, there are also the self-replicating types as well (i.e. tubers, roots, cuttings etc.) but that is a whole other ball of wax for another time....

If you are new to seed saving, the easiest and most satisfying type to start with is the self-pollinating sort. Because their pollination mechanism is contained within their own individual flowers, they are the least likely to cross-breed, unless you or your garden fairy are out there in the wee hours of the morning cutting flowers off and spreading the pollen to other plants. These plants include some of the home gardener's favorites: beans, peas, and tomatoes. Even amongst these, beans and peas are the absolute simplest to save; tomatoes aren't difficult, they just require an extra step or two.

For the beans and the peas, choose the plant(s) with the characteristics you want to save (earliest, most productive, best flavor, biggest pods, etc) and let the bean or pea pods dry on the plants. You do have to watch your timing on this however; you do not want to harvest while they are still slightly green (they are more likely to mold in storage) or when the pods have started to develop black spots (it is too wet and odds are good the seeds have started to sprout). The ideal time is when the pods are dry and you can hear the seeds rattle inside when you shake them. Harvest the pods and pry them open to retrieve the seeds inside. We find that if we leave the seeds out on labeled paper towels or cloth towels for another week before we seal them in bags or bottles, we lessen our chance of mold developing.

Too Green!                                            Too Brown!                                                                        Just Right!

Done well, you can come away with a nice collection of bean or pea seeds to save for next season's planting, or to share with friends and family (see picture; from left, going clockwise - Kentucky Wonder Pole Bean, Cannellini Soup Bean, and Blue Lake Bush Bean). Be sure to store them in a cool, dry place over the seasons. Most of these types will last 2-3 years when properly stored, so be sure to label them with a date of harvest as well; after that amount of time, they will begin to slowly deteriorate and fewer and fewer of them will germinate as time goes on.

Now when it comes to tomatoes, the selection process is the same; choose them for the characteristics you want to save. Let the ideal tomato ripen completely, overripe even, on the vine (doesn't that suck? the best tomato and you are NOT going to eat it!) as this gives the seeds the longest time to build up their stores for germination. There are two thoughts about saving seeds on this score. One is to just scrape out the seeds and spread them out to dry; the other is to ferment the tomato pulp with a little water at room temperature for several days, as this kills off many of the bacteria that cause plant diseases, and also the good "heavy" seeds will sink to the bottom and allow you to cull the dead seeds off the top. I have used both methods and they work equally well; use the fermentation method if you have issues with plant diseases, otherwise go with the simpler method. 

I hope that I have given you some inspiration to save some of the seeds that you grow in your garden; it is a worthy and necessary past-time. If it were not for our ancestors' time and patience in doing so, many a plant variety would have been lost to us today. If you find yourself becoming enthralled with this noble endeavor, as we have, please look through the links before for more information. Happy Gardening!

Our Favorites:  

Saving Seeds - from Mother Earth Magazine, a long but thorough article on seed saving basics

Collecting and Storing Seeds From Your Garden

Saving Seeds Successfully

Seed Saving - from About.com

Seed Saving Procedures - great intensive information, including access to videos, if you get really into it

Recipes:  

Kale and White Bean Soup With Spicy Sausage

 

 

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1/2 cup diced carrot
• 8 to 12 ounces andouille sausage or other smoked sausage, diced or thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bunch kale, chopped, about 8 to 10 cups chopped
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (15 ounces) white beans, such as Great Northern, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Dash Tabasco or similar hot pepper sauce, optional

Preparation:

From Diana Rattray, About.com

Options: To make this a vegetarian meal instead, leave out the smoked sausage or substitute a vegan sausage, and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

Up and Coming:  

Still working on brochures, t-shirts, and bags. Fall plantings are sprouting up all over and we anticipate them to be in the Ventura store next week. We are working on returning to the Ojai Farmers Market a few weeks after that.

If there are any questions or subjects you would like us to cover, please email us at amity@sproutinguporganically.com and then look for them in future newsletters!