How to Save Garden Seed
Watch 7 videos we made at our farm. Steph and John walk you through the details of saving seed from common garden plants.
Saving seed from your plants each year is easy. There’s a learning curve, but once you start doing it you will kick yourself for all the seed you bought in the past. One plant yields 100x the amount of seed that comes in a purchased packet. Some plants are easier than others. There are already many great publications about how to save seed. Click on these pdfs to read. Our favorite book on this topic is, Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners, by Suzanne Ashworth. 2002. Seed Savers Exchange.
2 handouts on Seed Saving:
Seed Saving Chart of Vegetables
Seed Saving Tips of Vegetables
Where to get Seed?
We buy seed from these places:
1. Buffalo Seed Company
These are our dear friends. They too are plant lovers practicing holistic non-toxic methods!
2. Strictly Medicinal Seeds
West coast company with AWESOME plant catalogs, and medicine plants you won’t find elsewhere.
3. Fedco Seeds
Cooperatively owned company in Maine, great source of heirloom and open pollinated seeds and diverse cover crops.
4. Seed Savers Exchange Conservation organization focused on heirloom seeds and plants.
Check out these websites:
http://www.seedsavers.org/
http://howtosaveseeds.com/
http://www.seedalliance.org/
http://seedlibraries.net/
5. High Mowing Organic Seeds
Only offer organic certified seeds, located in Vermont, great for vegetables and culinary herbs.
6. Berlin Seeds
Amish owned source of vegetable and herb seeds, located in Berlin, OH.
7. Middlefield Seed
Amish owned source of vegetable and herb seeds, located in Middlefield, OH
8. Baker Creek
Very expensive, but unique offerings. We usually get a few seeds from here for fun!
Books!!
–Seed to Seed, by Suzanne Ashworth, Seed Savers Exchange, 2002.
–Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties, by Carol Deppe, Chelsea Green, 2000.
–The Organic Seed Grower: A Farmer’s Guide to Vegetable Seed Production, by John Navazio, Chelsea Green, 2012.
–Organic Seed Production and Saving: The Wisdom of Plant Heritage, by Brian Connolly, Chelsea Green, 2011.
–Garden Seed Inventory, Seed Savers Exchange, 2005.
–The New Seed Starters’ Handbook, by Nancy Bubel, Rodale Books, 1988.
9. Johnny’s Selected Seed
Large company that has several organic-certified, and/or heirloom, and/or open-pollinated, vegetable and herb seeds.
10. Territorial Seed
Large company that has several organic-certified, and/or heirloom, and/or open-pollinated, vegetable and herb seeds
11. Richters
Canadian company with unique herb options
12. Seed Libraries!
Pick up free seed (or donate seed) from your local library. We have Seed Libraries in Ashtabula County
And Cleveland area has them, as well!
Ideas on Starting a Garden, Designing, & Eating!
Seed Starting Charts
Click on the below links for germination charts on starting seeds – what temperatures different herbs and vegetables prefer, and how long it should take them to germinate at those temperatures.
Germination for Common Herbs
Germination for Common Vegetables
Swales, Berms, Ditches, Drains… Contour!
What is Permaculture?
Bill Mollison Tribute
The co-founder of “Permaculture,” Bill Mollison, passed away in 2016. Red Beet Row was inspired by this man’s words and life’s work.
Here is a link to a speech Mollison gave in 1981 that is still chillingly relevant.
Here is a link to a video of both founders of “Permaculture,” explaining what it is.
“The greatest change we need to make is from
consumption to production, even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If
only 10% of us do this, there is enough for everyone. Hence the futility of
revolutionaries who have no gardens, who depend on the very system they attack,
and who produce words and bullets, not food and shelter.”
-Bill Mollison
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