Seed Saving Circle?

[DrakeMaiden]

Hey everyone, I'm wondering if we should formalize a seed saving group here on the SS forum for heirloom and open-pollinated seeds?

It is always good practice to save more seeds than you will plant in any given year, as crop failures happen, but wouldn't it be great if we had back-up? So if the east coast has tomato blight and members don't get tomatoes to save seeds for next year, we here on the west coast can supply some of our excess tomato seeds to members on the east coast? Or if someone is struggling and cannot afford seeds, we can all send a few that we have saved, knowing that should the tables be turned we might receive the same?

We can also share tips on growing the plants and saving the seed.

This idea has evolved out of a recent thread about one of our members not being able to afford to buy heirloom seeds for her garden.

I know there are larger organizations that facilitate seed saving, but I just thought it might be fun to do this on a small scale with other members here.

 

[flowerbug]

i'm always saving seeds... a few years ago i realized i had a large number of very old containers of seeds i'd picked up along the road, in the woods, various gardens, wild flowers and old packages of garden seeds people had given me and such. i took them all and mixed them in a container and took them out back and used them to replant a bare spot i'd taken the grass out of. not many of them did anything, most of the veggies were eaten by deer or rabbits, of all of that the only plants that remain now back there which i use are the dill. i was hoping fennel would go too, but it didn't.

this year i've collected some milkweed seeds and butterfly weed seeds. getting those from the fuzz is ... hahaha...

cosmo, columbines, zinnais, marigolds, ...

plenty of beans (i planted about 50 different varieties this year, going to have a lot of new ones i can tell already) and peas...

squash.

garlic (not seeds, but scapes or cloves to replant).

onions, bunching onions, etc...

i'm glad though that i found a new home for cowpeas that someone sent me that i've never planted - i'll be mailing those out sometime in the next week.

i'm trying hard to not get into what i was doing before which was just picking seeds without any idea if anyone wanted them or not. not many people want tulip seeds (it can take 3 to 7 years to get them to flowering sized bulbs)...

 

[tortoise]

I would be interested in swapping seed. I didn't collect any this year though.

 

[Wifezilla]

That's a good idea. I have planted my heirloom stuff but should have saved seeds in fall.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

If a bunch of us save seeds this fall then maybe we could have a seed swap in late fall or early winter, and then we can base our next year's seed orders on what we couldn't get at the seed swap.

 

[farmerlor]

If a bunch of us save seeds this fall then maybe we could have a seed swap in late fall or early winter, and then we can base our next year's seed orders on what we couldn't get at the seed swap.

I can help. Most of my garden is heirloom tomatoes so I would have several varieties of tomato but there should be some other veggies as well even though I had to cut back this year.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Great! Thanks farmerlor. I mostly have heirloom tomatoes too, but I would guess we probably have different varieties. Most of the rest of the veggies I grow are open-pollinated, but not heirloom.

 

[Wifezilla]

I have a lot of heirloom tomatoes this year. I am so looking forward to trying some black cherry tomatoes

 

[Ldychef2k]

As of this moment, I have only planted hybrids. Because of the generosity of our members, it looks like there will be heirlooms to share by the end of summer.

I am not really sure of the concept of open pollinating. Help?

Also, I would love to know how to save seeds so I can participate!

Thanks...now back to earning a living !

 

[big brown horse]

I have chocolate cherry tomato seeds planted and I should have plenty of seeds from them to share by the end of summer.

Thanks to a good friend, I now know how to save tomato seeds. I still need help learning how to save other seeds.

I bought mostly heirloom seeds this year with the rest labeled "organic"...does that mean open polinated too?

Yea to DrakeMaiden for starting this thread!