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 Growing Your Own Vegetable & Flower Seed
Excerpt from Secrets of Plant Propagation, by Lewis Hill
During the years of the Great Depression we saved many of our own seeds, even though a packet cost only a nickel or dime. We dried them carefully, stored them in a cool, dark closet, and planted them in the spring. The home-grown seeds germinated faster than many of those we bought, and usually the vegetables matured a week or so earlier, which was a bonus in our short growing season.
We stopped growing our own seeds primarily because it limited our selection of vegetable varieties. When we saved seeds we couldn't raise hybrid corn or any other hybrid vegetable because the second generation of any hybrid is likely to be quite inferior to the parent. Furthermore, we could grow only one variety of each vegetable. If we grew more than one kind, the bees would cross-pollinate them, and the resulting seed produced a kind of corn, tomato, or whatever that was quite different from what we had hoped for. Although the "squmpkins" that resulted when we planted the seeds that resulted from a pumpkin-squash summer romance were not too inferior in flavor, their appearance was weird. Not only that, our carrots were often pollinated by Queen Anne's lace or other wild carrots, resulting in ruined seed. Consequently, except for growing one variety of beans for drying, we now leave seed growing to the specialists.
If you are more adventuresome than we, and want to grow some of your own seed, make certain that you and all your neighbors within 600 feet grow the same variety of each vegetable or flower from which you plan to save seed, and of course, none of them should be hybrids.
Plants that mature their crops in a short season produce seed easily. Lettuce, radish, and spinach "go to seed" by mid-summer. Vegetables that produce a crop which is also its seed, such as peas, corn, and beans, are easy to grow, but getting the seed ripe enough to harvest and store takes a week or two longer than growing it to eat.
In warm climates, most vegetables bloom and produce seed the same year, but in areas with short growing seasons, some, such as carrots, beets, turnips, chard, parsnips, and members of the cabbage family, usually require two years. In the spring, some of these roots that have overwintered outdoors under a mulch or inside in a root cellar, can be planted in the garden. They will bloom in mid-summer and bear seed in much the same manner as lettuce and radishes do the first year.
Harvesting
Sometimes it is hard to know for sure when a seed is ripe and ready for harvest. Pick off the kinds of seed that hang on the plant, such as those of lettuce and parsnip, as they begin to fall off by themselves.
The "fruit" vegetables, including cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, and melons, must be completely ripe but not rotten before picking. Separate the seeds from the pulp, and dry them carefully. One easy way to do this is to spread the seeds on paper towels, leaving as little pulp as possible. Keep them in a dry, warm area until they are completely dry. They will be stuck hard to the towel. Fold the paper carefully and store it in a large paper envelope in a cool, dry place until you are ready to plant the seeds the following spring. At that time, tear off little sections of the towel, plant two or three seeds in a pot of planting media, and pinch off all but one of them after they start to grow. Or, your may lay the entire towel, with the seeds still sticking to it, seed-side up on a flat of planting media, and cover it with a thin layer of perlite. The towel will deteriorate as the seeds grow.
Seeds that grow in pods, such as radishes, peas, and beans, should ripen enough to rattle around in the dry pod before you pick them. The plant can be pulled at that time, hung up to dry further, and the seeds shelled after they are thoroughly dry. Store them in a paper or cloth bag until spring planting time.
Corn should be ripened on the stalk a bit past the eating stage. Then the stalks should be cut to the ground and stood upright in shocks in the field. After a few weeks of "after ripening," the corn should be husked and dried on wire mesh or screens in a warm, well-ventilated garage, attic, or greenhouse until the kernels are hard enough so you can shell them easily. Corn, too, should be stored in paper or cloth bags.
If you dry seeds in flats or on sheets of plastic, stir or turn them frequently so they won't rot before drying.
Storing Seeds
The best advice I can give you is to store seeds for no longer than one season. Always use fresh seeds so you will be certain they will be viable. Never order more than you intend to plant, and if you order too many, throw away what you don't use each year. Having said that, in honesty there are many occasions, whether we buy our seed or save it, that we want to store it for more than one season.
Although all seeds are perishable, they vary greatly in the length of their storage life. Most of them, even those with a short shelf life, keep much better if they are sealed in jars or plastic bags and stored in a cool, dry place. Peas, corn, and beans, because of their possible moisture content, should be stored in cloth or paper bags to reduce the chance of rotting. Most flower and vegetable seeds keep for a year or so in a cool, dry place, even if they are stored in only their paper envelopes. Kitchens, hot attics, greenhouses, or damp basements are not good places to store seeds.
Always write the date on each seed packet. It is easy to forget whether seed is one year old or has been stored for five years. Although old seeds may be viable, they often germinate slowly, and grow at a slower rate than fresh ones, a characteristic not appreciated by those of us who live where growing seasons are short. Slow-growing seeds are also more likely than fast-growing ones to succumb to one of the damping-off diseases.
We store those seeds we keep in small amounts in a 5x8-inch metal file box. File divisions are labeled, so all the varieties of the same species are together.
Although the viability of most seeds lessens as time goes on, certain weed seeds, such as wild mustard, sometimes lie dormant for years, and sprout vigorously whenever the ground is cultivated. As a rule, farm seeds such as grasses and grains, stored in an ordinary shed, remain viable for one to five years. Most vegetable seeds can be kept for three to four years, but onions, sweet corn, and beets are reliable viable for only one or two years. Cantaloupe, watermelon, and cucumber seeds keep well for up to five years.
Most flower seeds, both annual and perennial, stay viable for several years if they are sealed in a plastic bag in a cool, dry place. Hybrid delphinium are an exception, and they are rather perishable. They should be planted within a year of harvest. We keep our delphinium seeds in the refrigerator, sealed in a plastic bag.
Testing Viability
Whenever you have flower and vegetable seeds that you feel are not fresh, test their viability before wasting your time and space in planting. Count out a certain number of seeds and plant them in a flat in late winter in a warm place. Then check, after a week or so, to see how many have sprouted.
The old, familiar "Rag Doll" method works well, too. Spread a number of seeds out on a moistened cloth towel or on several sheets of moist newspapers. Roll them up, tie them together with a string, and keep them slightly moist at about 70 degrees F. Check in a week, and continue to check, to see what percent germinate and how long it takes.
Tree and shrub seeds vary even more than other seeds in their storage life. As I mentioned before, some of those that drop from the plant in early summer start to sprout almost immediately These types, including the willows, elms, poplars, and most native maples, are difficult to hold in storage, even for a short time. Other varieties that should be planted as soon after they fall as possible include the alder, shadbush, false cypress, spice bush, liquid amber, magnolia, bayberry, Oregon grape, hop hornbeam, potentilla, sassafras, spirea, yew, and larch, as well as many nuts. In contrast, certain hard-shelled seeds, Russian olive and linden for example, may lie dormant for twenty years or more and still germinate, without any special storage conditions. In general, the seeds of most evergreens and deciduous plants, other than those with hard shells, have a viable life of from one to four years.
Although most tree and shrub seeds prefer a cool storage atmosphere, not all like it dry. Moist storage conditions are desirable for the seeds of maple, citrus trees, hop hornbeam, loquat, tupulo, and most of the nut trees, including oak, hickory, beech, walnut, chestnut, and filbert. Since it is difficult to provide ideal conditions for each kind of seed, plant as soon as the seed is ripe, whenever possible.
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