Saving Seed

I collect seed here and there around the garden. I like to collect lettuce seed because it is so easy. You are suppose to have 12' or more between plants so they don't cross, but the reality is that they rarely cross anyway. Most of the time the flowers set before they even open. I'll know though if I have an issue.

I have three lettuce plants flowering. I have Little Gem, Paris Island, and Red Sails. The first two are Romaines and have white seed. The last one is a leaf lettuce with black seeds. Black seeds are a dominant trait. So if I have black seeds in my romaines, I know I have crossing.

I love borage. The flowers are pretty and very different and it pulls in a lot of bees very early in the season. The seed is also very easy to collect. I just pick it off the ground. I had pulled the plant because it was getting weedy looking (common with borage in mid to late summer).

And underneath the plant I found tons of seed on the path. I also have tons in the dirt, but I'll ignore them. I might them them grow there again next year or I might weed out the volunteers. And boy will there be volunteers next year. I've already got some coming up.

Cilantro and coriander are the same plant. I planted these for the cilantro, but I never pull them all and let them go to seed. Frankly I'd do it just for the flowers. It isn't that the flowers themselves are so interesting but they attract all sorts of beneficials to the garden.

But I get the bonus of letting them go to seed and collecting the coriander. The above are just covered in ripening seeds. I started collecting the dry ones today, but I'll be out there everyday picking off more. In about a week I'll probably just upend the plants and comb through it all.

And last but not least of the seeds I worked on today are the pea seeds. I hadn't shelled all of the Cascadia. I figured I'd just get it done so the seed can dry well and then be processed. I always freeze my legume seeds after the seed is totally dry (if not totally dry it will kill the seed when frozen). Freezing for a few days (0F or lower) kills weevil eggs. You won't know if your crop has them until the peas are destroyed, so it is always better just to be on the safe side and kill off the eggs.

Though it has nothing to do with seeds, I was pleasantly surprised to see this today. Two more melons have set. I planted eight cantaloupe plants. Eight melons set early on. Then all the female blossoms have fallen off since. I figured I'd get one per plant. I was pretty happy about that. Eight melons would be more than I've ever gotten before, even if these are small melons. But I'll dance if I can have melons in the double digits. That would just be too awesome.