seed saving etc.
Yesterday was spent harvesting seeds so I don't have to buy them next year. I cut open whatever vegetable, cull the seeds, remove any extra material and set them out to dry. After about a week, they should be okay to store. This way, I don't have to buy any seeds for next year. I put aside red bell pepper, the pickling cucumber, yellow squash, zucchini, and one kind of pumpkin so far. Also, 4 kinds of tomatoes: Elbi, Brandywine, Genovese, and Juliet. Tomato seeds must be sqeezed into a jar with water added. This is necessary to remove the gel sacs that surround each seed which actually act to prevent sprouting. After a mold forms on the top of the water, decant whatever seed/flotsam has accumulated at the top. Viable seed will be on the bottom. Then dry and pack away for next year. I'm hoping I have enough that I can start seedlings early and have an heirloom seedling sale in the spring. Had another run in with the yellow garden spider. And there are only 4 bunnies left. I'm not sure what got one and left all the others.
posted by meresy_g at Monday, October 03, 2005
7 Comments:
I love that you save your own seeds. How is it working out with cucurbits? Do you hand pollinate? I ask because the seed co-op I get my seeds from has had some trouble with cross pollination, and I haven't tried to save squash seeds yet because of that issue.
This is the first time I've tried saving seed. All the varieties I'm saving seed from are open-pollinated. I haven't done any hand pollinating. I had a good crop of cucumbers this year so I suppose the tons of insects flitting around are doing their job. I got the original seeds from Seed Savers Exchange. Is that the same one you refer to? We'll see what happens. If a little cross pollination occurs,it's interesting anyway. This year I planted three kinds of pumpkins, two were Curcurbita maxima and the company warned me that they should be planted 1/4 mile apart. I didn't do it. So Musquee de Provence and the Cinderella pumpkin cross pollinated to prodice a pumpkin that looked like a giant orange pear. Pretty, but nothing like the parents. But I got plenty of the other two, so I wasn't too put out. I do hope the tomatoes work out though.
I think tomatoes are fail-safe because they self-pollinate. Because cucurbits have male & female flowers, and the insects that pollinate them flit from flower to flower, you can get (let's say) cucumber pollen on a zucchini flower. What I've read you should do is this: when you notice a female squash flower about to bloom, tape it shut the night before. In the morning, hand pollinate with a male flower of the same variety, but a different plant. Then tape the female shut so no other pollen is introduced.
It always seemed like so much work, I decided to let the "experts" grow my seeds. :)
I get my seeds from Fedco, by the way. Definitely write for a catalog...it's a priceless resource.
Hand pollinating seems like a great deal of work. I see myself doing it a few times and then giving up. I think I just need to make sure that I don't plant more than one of the same species. One C. maxima and one C. moschata. Have you ever grown tomatoes from seed? I have not and am wondering if I actually need a heat mat, grow lights etc. Or if a warm room and sunny window is satisfactory.
They germinate best with heat, and we use a mat, but something a friend does is to start them in an oven with a pilot light, until they germinate. I do this with eggplants & peppers and it really speeds things up (because otherwise it takes weeks).
I have an electric range. No pilot light. Darn. Where did you buy your mat? Fedco?
We got our mat at Agway. Any good garden center should have them, though I'm sure Fedco has them in the Grower's Supplies section of the catalog.
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