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Seeds come in as many different packages as the plants that produce them. They may be enormous and clunky or tiny like specks of dust. Some have extremely hard protective coatings, and others are soft and oily. The common link among all plant seeds is that they are dormant embryos that will, in the right conditions, germinate and sprout one or two tiny leaves and the beginning of a root. If favorable conditions persist, these seedlings will begin to take moisture and nutrients from the soil and energy from the sun, and grow into mature plants.
Even the most novice gardener can have success with seeds by understanding how to provide those favorable conditions for seeds to grow in. Seeds vary from plant to plant, and may have different requirements for germination. But, generally speaking all seeds need three things in order to sprout: Water, Oxygen, and Warmth.
Water: Moisture softens the hard outer shell of seeds. Some seeds
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Harvesting seeds from your garden for planting in the future is a great idea for all kinds of reasons. Most obviously, it’s an economical way to keep your garden going from year to year without having to constantly purchase new seeds. It allows you to share (and trade!) with your friends and neighbours, and it keeps the gene pool of food plants alive and healthy.
The actual process is not difficult, although there’s a little more to it than can be fully explored in this article. A number of excellent books on the subject exist, as noted below. While you don’t need an extensive education to save seeds, you will have to learn some very basic principles, a little bit of botany, and some specific information about the seeds you’d like to save.
These are the three fundamentals of seed saving:
1. Labeling & recording your harvest. We grow p
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Just what are heirloom seeds, and how do they differ from heritage varieties? What sets them apart from regular seeds, and what role do they play in organic vegetable gardening?
The definition of “heirloom seeds” is a matter of debate. For our purposes, West Coast Seeds considers a plant an heirloom if it has been in cultivation for 50 years or more, although some people insist that 100 years is the magic number. Whichever period of cultivation is correct, it’s worth noting that modern industrial agriculture really began in 1945, following World War II. This was when farms in North America and Europe started growing more monoculture crops – one crop type growing in huge expanses of land. So in some ways, heirloom seeds can be considered “pre-war” varieties.
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One of the factors that most influences the germination rate of seeds is how they are stored. Like the plants that produce them, seeds come in all sorts of forms and sizes. They are also variable in their longevity.
Vegetable seeds that are considered “long-lived” include the Brassicas (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, collards, kohlrabi…) the chicory group (endive, escarole, radicchio), cucumber, kale, lettuce, melons, mustards, peppers, radish, rutabaga, sunflower, tomato and turnips. Stored correctly, these seeds should maintain a good viability for more than five years.
“Medium-lived” varieties include beans, carrots, celery, chard, eggplant, parsley, peas, pumpkin, salsify, and squash. These varieties, if properly stored, should last up to five years.
“Short-lived” seeds include corn, leek, onion, parsnip, and spinach. These are generally not recommended for more than one seas
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Scientists can now bypass the traditional breeding methods of manipulating plant characteristics. Rather than cross-breeding plants, they can work directly with plant DNA -- the genetic code containing the blueprint for all characteristics. Scientists can now take pieces of this code with the qualities they want and insert them into any cell.
Genetic modification of seeds primarily occurs to make plants resistant to herbicides or pesticides. The field can then be sprayed, leaving the modified plants unharmed. This process is used mainly in crops grown on an industrial scale. Like coating seeds with pesticides or other chemicals, this process, in our opinion, is fraught with problems.
We at West Coast Seeds do not support genetically modified organisms (GMO) for the following reasons:
- A single gene does not give rise to a single characteristic. There are too many unforeseen reactions to make this a safe method of breeding.
- There is a
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