Seeds and seed saving can be quite a fun experience, however, do so only after some research…
Do the plants cross pollinate? Are they owned by someone else? Are they hybrids?
If you answered yes to any of the above you will run into issues with seed saving.
- If your plants can cross polinate with poisonus plants in the area you would not want to collect seeds.
- If you plants need to be planted a certain distance apart.
- If a large company owns the rights to those seeds you may want to avoid saving them.
- If you collect seeds from a hybrid you will get the parent plant which will not have the same phenotype as the parent.
- If your area has restrictions on what plants you can let flower and go to seed. (Cabbage!)
I enjoy going to local farmers markets to get an idea of what I can be growing. Don't be afraid to ask where items are grown and what the farmers had to do to grow that item.
Some of the best sources that we get seeds from include:
We do save certain varieties of beans that are grown locally, and we do save items like garlic to replant each year.
Territorial Seeds has a great garden planner that works with their seed catalog but doesn't neccessarily work with all plants.
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