Endless productivity is every gardener’s dream; saving seeds will help you turn your garden into perfect circle, from seed to plant to harvest to more seeds to plant next year.

Have you ever wondered what people did before seed packets?

We take for granted that we can visit the seed racks at nurseries and big box stores and/or scan seed catalogs, both paper and virtual. It’s so easy to fill up a shopping basket with seed packets! Guess what? Saving seeds is not only NOT hard at all – it’s fun!

Let’s start with a spring garden walk-thru, from a seed saving and food preserving perspective. Come on, let’s go!

The garden has been planted for a mere 3 weeks, a perfect time to take a peek. The plants are small in size, but BIG in potential.

In the video I talk about the what and why of seed saving in my homestead garden – in hopes that you will adopt some of these principles and practices.

{ But mostly I hope you fall in love with the romance of seed saving. }

Grandma’s seeds

When I was a young teen, my Norwegian grandma gave me some seeds from her garden: lettuce, hollyhocks, and money plant. She had been growing these seeds since she and Grandpa farmed in North Dakota.

{ I didn’t know anything about saving seeds, so I didn’t do a good job stewarding them. }

But it got me curious and I made it my business to learn.

The Seed Saver’s Exchange

At age 16 I discovered the Seed Saver’s Exchange. It was just a small mention in a Sunset magazine at a doctor’s office and I was immediately excited!

{ I’ve been saving seeds ever since. }

Techniques to learn

• Distancing crops for pure seed – most plants need space between them and others of their kind to prevent cross-pollination
• Doable vs ideal or perfect – don’t worry if you can’t provide ideal conditions for perfectly pure seeds; save seeds anyway
• Growing varieties with preserving in mind – fermenting, canning, dehydrating, storing, and specific recipes
• Hand pollination of certain crops – special techniques needed to keep some crops pure, such as squash, melons, and cucumbers
• Growing open pollinated varieties – these will produce offspring like themselves in your next garden
• Playing with hybrids – hybrids are crosses, you never know what you will get when you save seeds, but with patience you can stabilize a hybrid and turn it into an open pollinated variety
• Saving seeds from the produce aisle – try saving seeds from grocery store peppers and melons you especially enjoy
• Storing and organizing your seeds – keep them cool, dry, and dark

Seed saving is a skill worth learning. It anchors your family food supply. Over time, seeds to adapt to your gardening conditions. This equates to stronger plants, better resistance to pests and disease, and bigger harvests.

Saving seeds from your own garden is also fun and intensely satisfying.

Noah’s ark

Be a plant rescuer: save heirloom vegetable, fruit, nut, berry, herb, and grain varieties for future generations of gardeners.

Thank you for joining me on this walk-thru our homestead garden as I explained what we grow, how we use and preserve it, and our reasons for saving our own seeds instead of buying packets of “new and improved” varieties every year.

Preserving

Be sure to choose veggies your family likes to eat! Plan how you will preserve them and how you will cook with them fresh. Gather recipes and preserving tools ahead of harvest time.

For example, you could can your bean harvest or turn them into Dilly Beans.

Tomatoes lend themselves to many recipes: sauces, crush pack with herbs, and more!

See more a gallery of pictures in Full Circle Tomatoes.

Resources

Seed Saver’s Exchange

Seed to Seed, Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners by Suzanne Ashworth

The Seed Garden, The Art and Practice of Seed Saving, edited by Lee Buttala and Shanyn Siegel

Metal tin or plastic container to store seeds

Photo box card file for seed records

Make a Garden Tool Basket

Potted Lemon Grove, Grow Meyer Lemon Trees from Seeds

Start a cardfile

Gather these supplies:

• 4×6-inch (10×15 cm) photo box or index card file
• Alphabetical tabs
• Pack of 4×6-inch (10×15 cm) index cards

Use one card per type of seeds you save. Record the name of the variety, the scientific name, where and when you obtained seeds, and any other info you deem useful. File cards by vegetable type behind (or in front of) the corresponding tab in your cardfile.

Being able to refer to this info the next season is a gift you give your future self.

Happy gardening,
Michele

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 2
Week 39: October 1, 2022

Sadie was delighted to hatch 2 ducklings at last! They peep adorably, reminding us of squeaky toys or tiny yellow dumplings.

By the second day, mother Sadie had introduced her ducklings to the wide outdoors.

They are so incredibly soft and fun to hold! The parents, Sadie and Sylvester, were a gift from a dear friend, Sarah Fullerton. I love her (and them) so much!

The calendar page has flipped to October and the antique hutch serves as a seed saving station.

Seed saving and preserving continue in earnest and so does the sunny weather, which means more of the same ahead this week, even though pumpkin spice and sweater weather messaging are strong!

New video

Soft Scrub Cleanser “Goop” + Scouring Powder | 2 Homemade Cleaning Products

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to keep a clean house! You can make your own cleaning products from grocery store ingredients. They are simple to make – and they are effective. Let’s start building your DIY cleaning tote today. Follow along and make 2 products in about 5 minutes that will save you time and money, not to mention all the extra packaging that won’t be going in the trash.

Do the next thing

It was a week of connecting with reality. We are still adjusting to the loss of little Charla (our sweet little dog loved and shared by Miriam and me.) Trips to the garden without Charla at my heels feel strange and…solemn. But to the garden I must go, there is still (thankfully) much food to be harvested.

And so I harvest more seeds, cut up precious windfall apples for apple butter, watch roots form on my kitchen window basil cuttings, and continue my herbal medicine making. Doing the next thing is good medicine.

It’s a beautiful thing to turn imperfect fruit into something perfect, like apple butter. When the wooden spoon stands up in the crock, it’s done.

I wash dishes, clean messes, and mop floors. Keeping a Crock Pot or a broth pot going is a comfort.

I gather greens for the bunnies, chase ducklings, let the chickens out in the mornings and close them up at night, even as I stumble over large, irrefutable evidence of a bear in our yard.

We first grew Musquee de Provence pumpkins in 2005 and were immediately smitten. The voluptuous fruit, weighing 10 – 25 pounds (4.5 – 11 kg) are born generously on rambling vines with lush heart-shaped leaves. They start out deep forest green and ripen after curing to a gorgeous bronzy chestnut color. Cut pumpkins exude a sweet melon aroma!

Boiling water in the bottom chamber of the steam juicer causes the berries to release their juices. Elderberry juice, fresh from the spigot, quart after quart.

Half a gallon of raw a2/a2 milk becomes clabber for baking and sour cream, with fresh milk for drinking and cream for my morning cup of tea. A loaf of bread thaws in preparation for apple butter.

Garden teepee

Join me for tea? Would you guess the tea service is mix-and-match from the thrift shop?

In a year when the garden struggled due to weather, the teepee was a very pleasant surprise. It grew and it throve and it was a delight to watch.

Comfort food

And I make soup. Ahhh soup.

We finished the week with a pot of Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup made with garden veggies and herbs and home-canned tomatoes.

And through it all, Sam is wonderful. Sam goes to work, comes home, does chores. Daily offering to help and finding ways to do so. Life is good.

Thank you for reading! You are part of the goodness in my life.

Bookshelf

One last thing. I can’t leave you without sharing book recommendations with you! These two are excellent for seed savers.

Beginner book: Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth. This is the book I started with and relied on for over 20 years.
Advanced book: The Seed Garden by Lee Alan Buttala and Shanyn Siegel.

Check my favorite online seller of used books using my sharebooklove link. Click the highlighted link in the previous sentence and then type the title of the book into the search bar when you get there. If they don’t have it in stock, create a wish list and add this book to it. Using my link earns us both points towards free books! Thank you for supporting my business, I appreciate it.

Blessings to you, friends.
Michele and Samuel

* This post contains links to products and vendors I use and appreciate for their quality and usefulness. Some are affiliate, some are not. I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases when you use the links I provide; this does not change your price.