Saving Seeds: A Smart Investment for Your Garden's Future

The summer garden is winding its way down and fall planting at the 2nd Street Chicken Ranch is well underway.  The long raised bed, that just a few weeks ago was an overgrown tangle of bush beans, has been realigned and is reemerging in tidy rows of spinach, kale and cress.  The determinate tomato plants have had their final fruits harvested and have been pulled to make room for the garlic.  


While all this reorganizing is taking place, it's also time to start investing in next year's garden by saving seeds from this year's best plants.  I'm pretty selective about which seeds I save and my friends at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds have nothing to worry about -- I'll still be purchasing plenty of seeds from them once that fabulous catalog arrives.


Saving is Easy


It's pretty easy to save seeds but here are a few thing to note as you get started:

• If the plant variety is a hybrid, the seed you save may be sterile or will not produce a plant like the parent variety. It's best not to save seeds from a hybrid. Heirloom seeds reproduce well and will keep the variety going...that's how we got heirlooms!
• The best seeds for a home gardener's to save are from those plants that self-pollinate (or are not cross-pollinated). These include garden favorites like tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, beans and peas. 
• Choose the best fruit, vegetable or flower.  Fruit should be at the peak of ripeness, but not over ripe.  Beans and peas should be left on the plant to dry.
• Make sure your seeds are dry -- moldy seeds rot!  Store in an envelope and don't forget to label it with the name/variety of plant. 

Mother Nature is pretty amazing when left to her own devices and you have no doubt encountered a "volunteer" of some type in your garden. This is especially true if you compost or let plants go to seed.  Case-in-point, the free seeding echinacea (cone flower).  I leave the seed heads for the birds but plenty self seed every year.  I have a beautiful garden full of purple and white cone flowers year after year. The same is true with cilantro; inevitably it bolts, flowers and self seeds.  I get a new crop without lifting a finger.


While saving beans, peas and dried seed heads is super easy, tomatoes take a little more effort and is something along the lines of a science experiment, but it's still easy.

Saving Tomato Seeds  


Here's what you'll need:

• The best tomatoes on the plant at the peak of ripeness.
• A glass jar or dish for collecting the seeds (one dish for each variety you are saving).
• A find sieve for straining the seeds.
• A paper plate for drying the seeds.

Here's how:

1. Scoop out the seeds and gelatinous tomato goo from your prize specimen into the glass jar or dish.

2. Add about 2 inches to 3 inches of water.

3. Move dish to a warm place (I recommend the garage where where fruit flies can really live it up) and let it sit until mold starts growing on the surface in about 2 - 3 days.  Yes mold. I said this was like a science experiment, didn't I? The mold is breaking down that gelatinous goo and freeing up the seeds!

4. Time to rinse the seeds.  Scrape or pour off the mold and dump your seeds into a fine sieve.  Rinse with water, moving the seeds around with your finger to make sure all the goo is washed off.

5. I like to pat the seeds dry with a paper towel and then transfer them to a paper plate to dry.

6. Let them dry thoroughly for a day or two.  Move them around to make sure none are stuck together. 

7. Label and save in an envelope. 

I store all my seeds in an airtight container, out of direct light in the unheated garage. 

Last year I was unable to find seeds of my two favorite tomato plants, the Sun Gold Cherry and the Juliet, so I purchased plants from my favorite supplier at the farmer's market.  I've saved the seeds of both of these varieties to ensure that I have seeds to start next spring!


What has been your success rate with saved seeds?  Anyone interested in a seed exchange?

The CdA Coop's Top Garden Picks of 2011

It's hard to believe that today is the last day of summer; after all, it didn't really arrive in north Idaho until early August!  In spite of the cold, wet spring which extended in to cool, wet summer, we did manage to have a couple of standouts in the garden this year.

Here's the lineup, starting with the cool weather lovers, since this was their year again. 

Lettuce and Greens:
We had (and continue to have) a fabulous crop of lettuces and greens this year. 

The Lolla Rossa lettuce was beautiful, never bolted or became bitter.  It is a lovely red leaf lettuce and will be back in the garden in 2012.  And then there was the arugula -- we enjoyed this spicy green all summer.  I planted this is succession (and now into the fall). If you haven't planted this before, I highly recommend it.  It germinates quickly and is ready for harvest in 25-30 days.  It's great in salads and lovely braised with a little garlic and bacon (like spinach but with a zing!). 

Beans:

I heard from several gardeners that this was indeed the year of the bean. I went a little crazy this year and planted all my beans at once instead of staggering the plantings.  That led to beans at just about every meal for several weeks. We put in four types of bush beans; green, yellow wax, royalty purple and Dragon's Tongue.  All were productive, but my favorite and the standout was the Dragon's Tongue. This is a flat type bean that starts out green with purple stripes and matures yellow with stunning deep purple stripes and spots. Oh, and did I mention how good they taste?  We blanched, steamed, sauteed and roasted. Gotta love summer's bounty.

Tomatoes:

This was another difficult year for Idaho tomatoes...but we did manage to pull out a few winners.  This year I started more than 50 tomato plants and much to my surprise, they all grew to transplantable size.  Many were given to friends and, I'm happy to say, those plants have been very productive. 

The all around winner for yet another year is the Sun Gold Cherry.  Nothing beats this little, round orb of sunshine.  The sweet flavor explodes "summer" in your mouth and it just keeps on producing.  Plant this one.

Another huge producer this year was the Black Plum.  It's a prolific cherry-type Roma with a deep reddish-brown skin and meaty flavor.  While these are small, they are great to roast and tasty right off the vine.

The Cherokee Purples, a large fruited heirloom, also did well producing lots of meaty, dusky pinkish-red fruits.  These were great sliced on BLT's!

One Morning's Harvest!

And then there was the Green Grape.  I'll be keeping this one around too. It's also a cherry type, very prolific with oval shaped, yellowish-green fruit.  Since this was the first year for this type, I wasn't really certain when the fruits were ripe! It's when they turn a bit yellow!  They are sweet and tangy all at once and look gorgeous mixed in with the Sun Golds and Juliet's.  

It's bittersweet to see the Summer of 2011 come to an end -- all in all it was a pretty good harvest.  Now I'm busy saving seeds (more on that soon) and planting the fall crops...got to get that garlic in next week!

How was your garden this year?  I love to know what your standout were and what you recommend!

The Slow Season

This has been quite the slow growing summer. Thanks to a very mild winter that lasted until the end of June, the garden has been just sluggish (in more ways than one) this year.

The tomatoes look good with lots of green fruit; but this time last year we had been picking tomatoes for at least two weeks. The squash and cucumbers are just now starting to blossom. If we are fortunate enough to have a somewhat "normal" September, the Second Street Chicken Ranch should have an abundance of tomatoes.

We have had excellent success with our lettuce and sugar snap peas.  The Tom Thumb variety of butter head lettuce is my favorite this year.  These "single serving" heads are about the size of your fist with a delicate, creamy flavor.  I wasn't sure if the snap peas were going to make it through the very cold and very wet spring; and was certain that the seeds had rotted in the ground. But, they pulled through and even though it took a while for them to get going, they have been fantastic! Large, meaty peas that are sugar sweet!  These are even sweeter when a bag of 15 or so, sell for $4 a pound in the grocery store. 

Here's a pano-view of our raised beds -- it's the first full year of using this form of bed.  Hal says I'd have more room if I took them out and used this entire area for garden, much like I did in previous years.  But, I think I'll give the raised beds another year.  I am limited in my space due to the giant maple (Max) and walnut (Wally) trees in the backyard.  This corner is the only sunny spot I have.

Speaking of Max, a few years ago I placed a single Hen-n-Chick plant in one of his crooks.  Look what I have now...a hen, pullets and chicks! These things will grow anywhere.  My super creative friend, Julene, recently posted a bit on hens and chicks on her blog, Present By Design . You can also find a link to her website in my Groovy Links section.

Below are a few recent images from the flower garden.  I'm glad to see the bees back in action.

The Season Begins...

Last Saturday was opening day for the Kootenai County Farmer's Market (http://www.kootenaicountyfarmersmarket.com/) - a day of much joy for me and many around the county.  The weather was fair; that is to say, we made it around and back to the truck before the rain started!  

I picked up a few tomato plants - a Sungold Cherry, a Black Pearl Cherry and a Juliet - which have been great producers in years past; and a new variety (at least to me) an orange fruited Golden Jubilee.  As I was paying for my plants the vendor stated "ahh, someone else who is going to torture plants!"  I assured him they would be spending their evenings in the gararge for at least another week!  

Since I'm also starting tomatoes from seeds, I need to temper myself when it comes to purchasing plants this year.  But, as I look at my tiny little starts, I'm wondering if they will ever be ready to transplant!  This is the first year I've attempted to start tomatoes from seeds.  So far, so good, but I think next year I better start in early March!  

I did find a fabulous source of heirloom seeds this year -- Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (http://www.rareseeds.com/).  They have a wonderful seed catalog with tons of non-GMO seed choices.  If you like looking at seed catalogs, this is one for you.  I ordered several types of seed and their shipping is just $3 - no matter how many seed packets you order!  That's the best deal I've found on shipping for seeds (unlike the nearly $10 Burpee wants to charge!). 

The tomato and peppers are looking good and I just put in spinach and lettuce.  I'll keep you posted on how grows! 

All Trussed Up

In spite of the rain, the new garage at the Chicken Ranch is taking shape. The foundation and floor was poured a week or so ago; but we had a few days of rain delay. The framing is going quite quickly -- walls late last week, trusses today. The roof sheeting will go down tomorrow and by week's end we should have a finished roof!

This progress is especially pleasing to me in regard to gardening season. I just might be able to get tomatoes in the ground without losing any time. The contractor says the garage may be complete by June 1st. Last year on June 1st I was still planting tomatoes! Our last average day of frost is Friday -- and Mother Nature is taking that to the wire this year...there is a freeze warning for tomorrow night! So I'll be hauling in the Fuschia and Petunia hanging baskets, and the couple of tomato plants that I couldn't resist at Farmer's Market last Saturday.

I really had to temper myself since I'm not sure where the tomatoes are going. I bought four plants - two cherry types for pots; a Sugar Sweetie and a Honey Bunch grape. Both are early and claim to do well in pots. Let me know if you have any experience with these -- they are both new to me.

The other two are a Juliet (a cherry roma type) and a Heinz (sauce/paste). We love the roma types - perfect for grilling and freezing. I've had great success with Juliet in past years; but the Heinz is a new variety for me. I put the cherry's in pots over the weekend (and I'll be hauling those in the house tomorrow too!); and am waiting to plant the others. I still want a couple Orange Blossoms, and an Early Girl or two, but I need to see what develops for garden space!

Finally, we are celebrating a Happy Hatchday this Friday for our Girls. They will be 1 year old. We're having a little party -- champagne of course and a few appetizers (chicken wings and deviled eggs); plus Chicken Kitchen is whipping up a special Hatchday Cake for the Girls --creamy Italian polenta with a cottage cheese icing and cracked corn sprinkles on top -- they are going to love it!