I’ll trade you a rezha pepper for a handful of pole beans
Early in my gardening experience, I became interested in saving seeds from the results of my labor, which was not so much labor as entertainment, exercise, education and therapy. I had little idea of proper seed-saving techniques, just a curiosity to see what would happen.
Here’s what happened. I would plant a few seeds – bell peppers, for example – from a seed packet, nurture the seedlings until planting time and then shepherd them through the season. When I picked the mature pepper, I would get dozens of seeds which would find their way into a properly marked envelope to be stored alongside the original seed packet which still had plenty seeds for next year.
After a few years, the seed basket was stuffed with carefully marked envelopes of different peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, marigolds, basils, beans and snow peas from succeeding years plus what was still viable in the original packet. Have you ever let a lettuce plant produce its own seeds? Hundreds of seeds will go into the carefully marked envelope to complement the original packet which still will have more seeds that I care to count.
A few years ago, I gathered several carefully marked envelopes of tomato seeds probably six to ten years old and planted all of them in a flat. Yes, I should not have been surprised, but all of the seeds sprouted, and the flat, crammed with seedlings, looked like a carton of alfalfa sprouts… many dozens more than I could use or even give away.
One lesson I gleaned was seeds might remain viable longer than I expected if they are stored on a safe, dark shelf below my stereo equipment. Another lesson was I don’t need so many seeds.
I plan to continue saving seeds because then I will have seeds that grew right here in this soil and weather, which might mean subsequent generations would be acclimated to these conditions. I let two Red Russian kale plants mature completely, and they produced an amount of seeds for which there is no number. In the same year I received along with two seed orders free packets of Red Russian kale seeds, each of which could supply Newton County. So, what to do?
Gardeners think community. If we have extra plants, we find homes for them, and extra seeds also offer the opportunity for community. Midwinter is a time to swap seeds.
Dixon, New Mexico, near Taos, has held a Community Seed Exchange since 2003. Hundreds of participants swap seeds which originated locally in that particular mountainous environment. They can also get to know their neighbors better. North Devon, England, is another example of a long-established seed swap event which intends to perpetuate local varieties and encourage non-gardeners to give gardening a try. Sebastopol, California, has a seed exchange which offers free organic locally grown open-pollinated seeds for gardeners year-round.
Seed swap organizer Mike Szuberia of Toledo, Ohio, noted, “Seeds are, in a sense, suitcases in which people can transport their cultures with them.” This notion is repeated many times in the stories accompanying the seed offerings in the Baker Creek Seed catalog in which varieties from around the world can be traced back to individuals bringing seeds from the old country to the United States.
Bringing it all back home will be a new (hopefully annual) seed swap in Eureka Springs organized by local gardener and seed-saving enthusiast Michael Waters on Friday, March 4, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., at the Cup of Love, 4032 E. Van Buren. He stated, “I save seeds from my healthiest plants to bring back the strength they have developed with local plant life, critters and bugs… and, of course, there are tons of seeds to share with neighbors!”
Drop by with your extra seeds in carefully marked envelopes or your curiosity about gardening. You might take home your new very favorite varieties.