"Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders."
—Henry David Thoreau
Cold grey winter days provide the perfect opportunity for gardeners to succumb to the lures of beautifully-illustrated seed catalogs and dream of their spring and summer gardens to come. It is often that case, though, that home gardeners spend more money than they need to, and purchase more seed than they can possibly use. Who hasn't discovered when those lovely seed packets arrive in the mail, that they actually have room for only a small percentage of those seeds in their home garden?
Luckily, Butte County residents now have a source of reliable and FREE seeds for our own growing conditions: the Seed Lending Library at the Chico branch of the Butte County Library. A library card enables gardeners to “check out” seeds that have been saved in local gardens. The gardener then saves seeds from next year's garden, and returns them to the Seed Lending Library, and the cycle continues. With this wonderful resource, home gardeners instantly gain the ability to plant free locally-grown and acclimated seeds.
Why consider saving seeds when most seeds are inexpensive anyway?
- Locally-selected and saved seed varieties may be better suited to our local climate.
- Seed-saving methods attract beneficial insects by leaving plants to complete their flowering or fruiting cycle.
- Saving heirloom varieties helps keep these plants from extinction.
- Many flowers and vegetables grown today have no commercial seed sources.
- You can share or exchange seeds with other seed savers to gain seeds you might not have been able to save yourself.
While it is not difficult to save seeds, there can be some pitfalls. Only seeds from open-pollinated plants will produce the same crop next year. Most hybrid varieties do not breed true to type. This means that the seed saved from last season's frilly cosmos hybrid may produce a much simpler, plain cosmos next spring. Many vegetables (root crops, cole crops, parsley and others) are biennial and do not form seeds until the second year. Some common garden vegetables (like peppers and corn) need to be separated by variety to prevent cross pollination by insects and wind. Tiny seeds need to be separated from the chaff by sieving and hairy daisy seeds need trimming. But beyond these pitfalls, most flower and vegetable annuals are easy to harvest for beginning seed savers. Seeds don't need special care; plants complete their life cycle in one season; seeds are harvested and stored when dry and are ready for planting.
Getting started: head to the Chico branch of the Butte County library to get seeds at the Seed Lending Library. While there, look at or check out books that contain information on saving specific seeds. Plant encylopedias, for example, generally contain detailed seed-saving instructions. The internet is full of tips for seed saving. The websites organicgardening.com, motherearthnews.com and ucanr.edu are good resources for information about seed saving and seed viability. Spend some time this winter learning how to save seeds from next year's garden to share and to plant the following year.