Contents PART I: BASIC INFORMATION CHAPTER 1 Why Raise Seeds? CHAPTER 2 What Is a Seed? CHAPTER 3 How Seeds Are Formed CHAPTER 4 Annuals, Biennials, and Perennials CHAPTER 5 Pollination CHAPTER 6 Selecting Seed Parents CHAPTER 7 Collecting Seeds CHAPTER 8 Extracting and Drying Seeds CHAPTER 9 Storing Seeds CHAPTER 10 Testing Seeds PART II: THE VEGETABLES TABLE I: Characteristics of Common Vegetables Saved for Seed Monocotyledoneae POACEAE (Grass Family) Sweet Corn 54 /Popcorn 57 LILIACEAE (Lily Family) Asparagus 58 / Chive 601 Garlic 61 1 Leek 61 / Onion 63 Dicotyledoneae POLYGONACEAE (Buckwheat or Rhubarb Family) Rhubarb 66 CHENOPODIACEAE (Goosefoot Family) Beet 68 I Swiss Chard 71 /Spinach 72 TETRAGONIACEAE (New Zealand Spinach Family) New Zealand Spinach 74 BRASSICACEAE (Mustard or Cabbage Family) Cabbage 51/Broccoli 80/Brussels Sprouts 81 / Cauliflower 81 / Chinese Cabbage 82 /Kale 85 / Kohlrabi 85 / Turnip 87/ Rutabaga 88 / Horseradish 89 / Radish 90 FABACEAE (Bean Family) Pea 95 /Peanut 98 /Bean 98/ Lima Bean 101 / Cowpea 102 / Soybean 102 MAIVACEAE (Mallow Family) Okra 103 APIACEAE (Celery Family) Carrot 104 / Celeriac 108/ Celery 109/ Parsley 110 I Parsnip 111 SOLANACEAE (Nightshade Family) Eggplant 112 /Pepper 114 / Tomato 116/ Potato 116 CUCURBITACEAE (Gourd or Cucumber Family) Squash 120/ Pumpkin 126/ Cucumber 126/ Muskmelon 128/ Watermelon 130 ASTERACEAE (Aster Family) Lettuce 131 / Jerusalem Artichoke 134 / Salsify 134 TABLE II: A Checklist of Some Seed-Borne Vegetable Diseases PART III: THE FLOWERS The Best Flowering Ornamentals to Save for Seed Ageratum 143 Lobelia, Annual 155 Alyssum, Sweet 143 Love-in-a-Mist 156 Amaranthus 143 Lupine, Dwarf 156 Aster, China 144 Mallow, Rose 156 Baby's-breath 144 Marigold 157 Bachelor's-Button 144 Morning-Glory 157 Balsam, Garden 146 Moss Rose 158 Bean, Scarlet Runner 146 Nasturtium 158 Bells-of-Ireland 146 Pansy 159 Borage 147 Petunia 160 Cabbage, Flowering 147 Phlox, Annual 160 Calendula 147 Pink 161 Candyhuft, Globe 148 Poppy, California 161 Canterbury-Bells 148 Poppy, Opium 161 Celosia 149 Poppy, Shirley 163 Chrysanthemum 149 Rocket, Sweet or Dame's 163 Clarkia 149 Salpiglossis 163 Cosmos 150 Salvia 164 Coreopsis, Golden 150 Scabious, Sweet 164 Daisy, English 150 Snapdragon 164 Daisy, Gloriosa 151 Snow-on-the-Mountain 165 Daisy, Swan River 151 Spider Flower 165 Flax, Flowering 151 Stock 166 Forget-Me-Not 151 SunflFower 166 Four-O'Clock 152 Sweet Pea 166 Foxglove 152 Sweet William 168 Gaillardia 153 Tobacco, Flowering 168 Hollyhock 153 Verbena 169 Honesty 153 Wallflower 169 Kale, Flowering 155 Zinnia 169 Larkspur, Annual 155 Mail-Order Seed Sources Further Reading Glossary for Gardeners Average Frost Date Maps PART I BASIC INFORMATION CHAPTER 1 Why Raise Seeds? A sneeze several years ago started me along the circuitous route toward growing seeds to save. I had heard the arguments against growing seeds for so long that I began believing them all. Don't grow seeds, the garden books say. These various arguments all seem to boil down to one main point: that you and I really aren't smart enough to save seeds. Our grandparents did, as did their parents; as did countless generations reaching almost back to our ancestors who first swung out of a tree, but the plain truth is that the human line has petered out a bit, and that you and I aren't capable of growing our own seeds. Then comes the final point, the real clincher: Seeds are cheap. I won't argue that seeds at almost any price are a bargain. Think for a moment of someone building a kit that would include all of the parts and the directions for building a celery plant. Think of being able to do this, then offering it so that the entire package-parts, directions, and container-weighs but l/70,000 of an ounce. Nature has designed such a kit-a celery seed. But are seeds really cheap? I hadn't thought of it too much, only realizing that each January my seed bill grew larger and larger, while my garden stayed the same. And noticing that I now paid $2 for what I thought was a dollar's worth of peas. Then came that sneeze. Surprising how it snuck up on me. Surprising how loud it was. Surprising me so that my right hand snapped skyward. My right hand at that moment was holding a few seeds-$5 worth of tiny petunia seeds. The dustlike seeds shot up, then were caught in the gale of the sneeze and scattered to, in this case, the one wind. The seeds were gone, but not forgotten. For that incident started me thinking more about seed costs. My handy calculator soon told me that, if I had managed to sneeze away a pound of those petunia seeds, instead of 1/128 of an ounce, my sneeze bill for the day would have amounted to more than $10,000. That's much more than gold costs, and it certainly shows that seeds aren't cheap. I noticed, too, that seed packets were changing. Only infrequently did they tell me the number of seeds to be found therein. The price for a packet most often was more than a dollar. And no longer were the packets fat with seed. Some were downright slim, even undernourished, in shape. Today's prices haven't dropped from those of several years ago when I first began to watch them. The move of prices has been in the opposite direction. A good hybrid tomato seed sells for $5 for l/32 of an ounce. I'll save you the calculating and tell you it's $2,560 a pound-and the seed is even more expensive if you buy it by the packet instead of in the comparatively large increment of l/32 of an ounce. Clearly, I had found one good reason for raising and saving seeds. To save money. The day of the nickel packet of seeds was over. It was time I looked for another, almost-free source of seeds. Then I began to wonder if there might be other good reasons for growing and saving seeds. I immediately thought of a Lebanese family in town. Their grandparents had arrived on Ellis Island years ago, bringing with them very little money, only a few clothes, a handful of squash seeds, and a heedful of recipes for cooking those squash in the most delectable manner. Various grandchildren now are growing what must be the sixtieth generation of those seeds in this country, never giving this squash an opportunity to indulge its promiscuous habit of crossing with any other member of its not-so-immediate family. Here was another reason for growing and saving seed. To preserve and perpetuate varieties that could die out. Look at a seed catalog of ten or twenty years ago, and compare the varieties of seeds found there with current offerings. Many have been dropped, some for good reason, others because it doesn't pay to carry too many varieties. Perhaps one of those dropped was exactly what you wanted, because of its taste or keeping qualities or looks. If you had saved this seed, you could have continued a variety now forgotten. Your choice of which varieties to grow would not be entirely in the hands of the seed companies. Many good old heirloom strains, no longer offered commercially, have already been lost. Some of the vegetables we enjoy today -the Royalty bean and Clemson Spineless okra for example-are still available to us because one family nurtured and handed down the seed for generations. Once a variety dies out, it cannot be retrieved. If you have seed of a special, obscure, unusual, or heirloom vegetable variety, you-and many other people-might someday be glad that you kept the strain vital by planting and saving it. If you raise and save seed, you are producing seed for your garden, and, by careful selection over several generations of plants, you can produce plants best suited to your climate and your gardening conditions. No one else but you can do this. Flavor, pest and disease resistance. early bearing, and size are among the many characteristics that can be enhanced by judicious selection over a period of years. Years ago seeds became scarce as the number of home gardeners spurted. Something like this could happen again in the future, caused by a truck strike, blizzard, postal mix-up, or failure of crops. If you have raised and saved seeds, such an event will not hamper your gardening activities one bit. In fact, if you have raised more seeds than you need, as most of us do, you will be able to help your neighbors in a most meaningful way. If you have a keen eye as you observe, evaluate, select, and compare your plants, you may even discover something new and valuable. The chances may be against it, but good new strains of plants have been found and are being found, some by plant breeders and a few by observant everyday gardeners. One such person was a turn-of-the-century seed grower, Calvin N. Keeney of Leroy, New York, who is credited with originating nine new varieties of bean, among them the Burpee's Stringless Green Pod, still listed in the Burpee catalog and credited as having the "finest flavor." There's one benefit on which you yourself will have to put a value; I can't. Let's say you first attempt something easy-saving peas. The year that you plant those peas, you will put them in the ground with a little extra care. They'll get the choice compost for encouragement. You'll spend a minute or two longer with them each time you cultivate around them. And, sure enough, they'll taste a bit sweeter than any other peas you raise that year. There'll be a deeper satisfaction in growing them. What's that worth to you? The final reason for raising seed? To prove to those writers of gardening books that the human strain hasn't weakened to the point where it is incapable of growing vegetable seeds. Grandpa was a smart old codger, but not that smart. Maybe he jus...
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