Let's Grow Stuff

Greetings from the garden. My name is Ben, and today we're looking at saving seeds for your gardens of the future. So let's jump in and get started.

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Today, we're joined by Tom Bryan. Tom is the Program Manager of the Greenhouse Learning Community here on the UW-Madison campus, and he's an expert in growing all kinds of wonderful, edible plants. And he's gonna help us understand a bit more about seed saving. Tom, thanks for joining us today. Thanks for having me, Ben. First off, seed saving is a bonus of gardening; it isn't a necessity. But it can save you money and give you sovereignty over your seed. Plus, it connects us to previous generations, going back thousands of years in many cases. So Tom, what's the first thing someone should know about seed saving? Make sure the crop you wanna save seed from is open pollinated, or sometimes written as OP or heirloom in a seed catalog or packet. What you want to avoid is crops that are written as F1 or hybrid in seed packets and catalogs. So why is pollination important for seed saving?

Tom

If it pollinates itself, it'll be much easier to save seed from it. This way, the seed you save will be the same as the parent plants. Examples of these are tomatoes, peas, and beans. If it needs insects or the wind to move pollen from plant to plant, it'll be much harder to save seed from it. Examples of these are corn, squash, cucumbers, and melons. So if this is our first time saving seeds, is there anything that we should just avoid to make our lives a bit easier? Yes, anything that's a biennial. Biennials are plants that take two years to flower. Examples of these are carrots, beets, and onions. Also, steer clear of plants in the Brassica family, which includes broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and kale. So can you walk us through what saving a seed looks like? Yeah, let's talk about saving tomato seeds because one, they're self-pollinating. Two, tomato seeds can be really expensive. And three, they're probably the most common vegetable in home gardens in the U.S. The seeds are mature when the fruit is mature. Even better, the seeds inside of a bruised or half-eaten tomato are still good to save. Pick the seeds out individually or scoop them into a glass. Add water and let it get moldy for three or more days. Yep, I'm being serious. Strain the seeds, rinse away the fleshy tomato guts, dip in a 1 to 5 or 20% bleach solution to kill disease, rinse them again, and let dry on a paper plate or paper towels for a day or two. Put dry seed in envelopes and label with the name and collection date. Put those envelops in a jar and freeze for two days to kill any pests. To keep seeds dry, add a silica packet to the jar or even some freshly opened powdered milk. That's it; the seeds are ready to plant.

Here's a final tip

if you have any leftover seed packets, you can plant the seeds in them next year. But don't hang on to seed packets too long. Seeds are alive and will become too weak to grow after too many years. Keeping the seed packets in a cool, dry place will help make them last longer. Tom, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us today. You're welcome. Thanks for having me, Ben. Remember, humans have been saving seed for thousands of years. You can do it too. Well, thanks for joining us today, and we'll see you next time in the garden.

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