Started Seed Saving

[TwoDo]

Planted some radish and climbing bean seeds from plants I grew last year. Saved the seed and kept it over the winter. Doing this as part of my preps - I would like to be able to ensure I have the ability to plant a garden in the spring even if there are disruptions to the seed suppliers.

Also got garlic shoots going from cloves grown last year.

Very good germination rates. Of course radishes and beans are probably the easiest seeds to save - but you have to start somewhere. No idea yet of the quality of the output - the radishes probably bred true (not a lot of people let radishes bolt so I only have to cope with wild radish plants cross breeding in - hopefully none). The beans are a different matter - I did not take care to isolate the flowers I gathered the seed from - so the could have (and probably did) cross with pollen the bees brought in from beans my neighbours gardens.

Tricky business this seed saving. Been reading up on it. Seems there is a lot more to it than just picking a few seed pods and throwing them in the cupboard for next year. My feeling is that, as with gardening, it is best to get ones skills up-to-speed while one still has the luxury of being able to fail.

[Chef]

That would never have crossed my mind in a million years, cross pollination.

I'd thought about how to save seeds for longer maybe by vacuum packing but not what the seeds could end up as once grown again, so you have to put like little net bags over the flowers to stop them getting contaminated?

C

[the-gnole]

We have been "Modifying" our seed harvests for some 8000 years (No, not "us" but mankind) slowly adjusting the Genetic makeup to get best yields and reducing wasted parts of the plant, a few centuries ago Wheat had long stalks, then we had short stalked stuff, all from cross "contamination" in affect.

There are good sides to it and bad sides to it, but it happens and we sometimes have to put up with it.

[The-Great-Nothing]

Any idea how to grow& store "seed" garlic, potato & onion. Rather than buying every year.

Cheers

Matt

[i_am_jim]

you can use uncooked rice to store onions and potatoes in. pour the uncooked rice into a box put your spuds or onions on top leaving space between them then pour more rice ontop until you have covered the spuds or onions. can be done in layers. do not store spuds and onions together though as they release chemicals that spoil each other.

[i_am_jim]

i suppose you can store garlic the same way aswell.

[Triple_sod]

Great news TwoDo

I don't know for sure but reckon you'll be alright with the beans, as I suspect they're like peas which are largely self-pollinating.

At any rate my grandad saved his own runner beans for donkeys years..

[Triple_sod]

Any idea how to grow& store "seed" garlic, potato & onion. Rather than buying every year.

Cheers

Matt

Dunno about Garlic

Onions are pretty simple though, much like roots they'll bolt and go to seed which you can collect.

Potatoes are even easier, pretty much any old spud can be chit and planted, the problem is they build up pathogens. They reckon after 2 generations you need fresh seed tatties from higher altitudes (usually the highlands of Scotland in this country).

Now you can grow from ‘true seed’ which develops on those ‘berries’ but not something many people do unless they’re breeding new verities.

[Tocsin]

I had a good crop of garlic last year and still have bulbs from last year's crop which have been kept in a cupboard. I used two bulbs yesterday. split them into cloves and planted them out, don't know if they'll grow but we'll see in a few weeks. Have planted peas kept from last year, they're in cardboard toilet roll centres in the green house (they can then be planted straight in to the garden without disturbing the roots), but the germination seems pretty poor this year

[jansman]

They will grow,believe me.