November 7, 2016

Avalanche column

October 20, 2016

Something to keep in mind as you plan your next garden is to save seeds. There are a number of reasons to do this but I like the idea of food independence the most.

Not all seeds you find in seed packets are the same. It is important to learn how to read a seed packet.

Let us take a look at a Johnny's Selected Seed 's package. We will look at Hybrid specialty Melons.

After the Johnny's logo is the type of veggie, Hybrid specialty melon, followed by the variety, Savior, followed with a F-1, followed by the scientific name, Cucumis melo, followed by the lot number, then comes the number of seeds in the packet, the days to maturity, the germination percent and the date of this test. On the back of the packet is a description of the veggie and full details of the culture for this veggie including harvest and likely pests.

Two things are very important on the front of the packet that are very important when you decide to save seed.

The first is the F-1 after the seed name. There are three possibilities of letters or numbers that can be located here. They are F-1, OP or even a blank spot. In order to save seed you need to have a blank or the OP, NOT F-1. This number depicts that it is a hybrid and seeds saved from this veggie WILL NOT be true to the parent. The blank and OP means that this veggie is open pollinated and WILL be true to the parents.

NOTE: All seed packets will have this notation, any packet that has an F followed by a number means it is a hybrid.

The scientific name is important so that you do not plant veggie varieties that easily cross pollinate. Just the common name will not work for this.

It would be helpful to acquire a book about seed saving. This will help you to cultivate this skill. My go to “dog eared” book is “Seed to Seed” by Suzanne Ashworth published by Seed Savers Exchange.

For beginning seed savers, I would suggest to go with the “low hanging fruit” to begin with. Because seed saving can be very complicated. We wont go into this here. Low hanging fruit would include ALL of the veggies that are self fertile. Your seed saving book will help with this important detail. This means they pollinate themselves and are not easily cross pollinated. A short list would be peas, beans, tomatoes, peppers and okra.

Of this short list probably the strongest self fertile veggie is okra. There is a great number of times that I have observed okra blossoms dropping off before the petals are even open. These pods continue to grow until they are harvested or cut for next years seed crop.

There is an independence that one achieves through seed saving. Happy gardening!!!

Questions? I can be contacted at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com. Or more garden notes at redwagonfarm.blogspot.com

alanche column