Accumulating
organic vegetable seeds from your own garden is an excellent way to save your favorite plant diversity and as well as save your bank balance. Plants grown from seeds clearly take a little longer to produce edible crops than those grown from seedlings, but it's unquestionably more comfortable when the seed comes from our own garden.
We've all seen what issues come when
fresh fruit and vegetables begin to decay. The outer flesh starts to decompose, leaving the seeds detected. If you sow this fruit and vegetable material into your backyard when the conditions are just right you may be fortunate enough to find a tree breeding on the spot in the not too distant future. However, although this occurs automatically in nature, we want to be able to control where and when our seeds bear fruit.
Seeds boxes fall into two categories - fleshy and dry
- Fleshy fruits and vegetables such as oranges, pumpkins, cucumbers, capsicum, and apples are notably squishy when they begin to rot, so it's best to isolate them from their containers.
- Dry fruits and vegetables such as beans, parsley, lettuce, peas, spinach, etc. are easier to collect.
Collecting seed from fleshy fruit and vegetables
Let's take one favorite - the tomato - as an example of a
fleshy fruit that needs a special seed collecting method.
First, you need to identify when the tomato seeds are available for collection. That's easy enough with tomatoes; they turn from green to very bright red and then become too soft to eat. When the
fruit and vegetable look to be past its 'use-by' date, put the fruit in a jar of water and leave it for a few days. Finally, refine the pulp apart and dry out the seeds within layers of kitchen paper.
TIP: If you have enough compost spread around your backyard you'll find that new tomato sprouts are inclined to pop up everywhere when the time is appropriate!
Collecting seed from dry fruit and vegetables
Peas are a great example of dry seeds that can be obtained easily. As peas become overripe their pods begin to dry out. Simply pick them and put them in a paper bag. Leave them in a dry spot until the seeds loosen from the pod completely, then scrape them away and put them into storage.
Not all dry seeds are as flexible as peas and beans. For example, you might require to push very small seeds through a sieve to get them isolated from their outer casing.
How to stock your seeds
Stock your seeds in paper containers or boxes and label them simply. Be sure to add the name and quality of the plant you secured the seed from e.g. Tomato, Cherry, and also add the date. Keep your seed containers in a cool, dry place. It's a good concept to make sure your seeds are well guarded against rats and mice. If you leave your expensive seeds in a shed, be sure to put them tightly embedded in a box or similar storage container. Ensuring your seeds stay clean and dry will also defend them from fungal infections that flourish on moisture.
Once your backyard is offering a variety of crops, using this way, you may discover you have no requirement to
buy fruit and vegetable seeds.
