It's Time to Start Seed Saving

Now is the time to start saving seeds, when your garden is in full, beautiful bloom. I save zinnia, marigold, and green beans for seed swapping and growing next year. This year I am going to experiment with saving tomato seeds.

(Clockwise) Tomatoes, sunflower, zinnias, nasturtium

Saving Flower Seeds

I posted previously about this process. I am a voracious dead-header and I always have cut flowers in my house so I identify a few flowers that I am going to leave on the plant to completely dry up so I can collect the seeds. The larger the seed, the easier it is to save. If you have a favorite flower in the garden this year, consider saving seeds for next year. 

Saving Vegetable Seeds

I grow green and wax beans every year so I save seeds from the varieties I really like and/or grow well in my climate. If you want to save green beans, leave a few beans on the plant. You will see the pod dry up and the seeds will get very hard. That's when you can harvest the seeds for next year. Be sure to mark the container with the information you need for next spring. Side note: leave your green bean plants in the ground because they will add nitrogen to your soil.

This year I am going to experiment with saving tomato seeds from some of the heirloom varieties I am growing. I start all of my tomatoes, heirloom and hybrid, from seed. This year I have Abraham Lincoln, Thessaloniki, Brandywine Pink, Tula Black, Parks Whopper, Big Rainbow, Black Cherry, Large Red Cherry, and Red Pear. My source is seed swapping (watch for Seed Swap Day in your area, it's usually at the end of January) primarily. 

Apart from the Black Cherry, I have not gotten any ripe tomatoes yet this summer, but all of my plants have a lot of fruits and very few dead leaves that would indicate disease. Once they ripen they will be ready for seed saving - and eating! I did some research and there a couple of ways to save seeds from your tomatoes and I will share in a later post.

Note that saving hybrid seeds won't replicate the plant you have this year. According to The Spruce, "Seeds from hybrid tomatoes, while they may sprout and grow, often produce tomato plants that revert to one of the genetic parent plants, which can produce much different fruit than you're expecting."

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What winter means when you are a gardener

If you are new to gardening, winter might not seem like a very active time for your hobby. But that is not true. Gardening is a year round activity.

1. Winter is the time for planning for the next growing seasons. I find it is exciting to think about what is possible. Have some fun flipping through seed catalogs and library books. The sky is the limit, nothing fails, you have all the time and money you need! Capture your ideas in a notebook or other method, no matter how big or small, because you probably won’t be able to do everything this year, but you will capture your ideas for the future.
   
   
2. Planning is really important, too, because you want to be ready to start planting in the spring. You need the dirt to be ready, you need some plants to stick in the ground or your containers, you need some seeds to plant, you might need a new tool or a new pot. Nothing is more frustrating when you pick a Saturday morning to start planting and you realize you can’t find your trowel or your container is cracked.
   
   
3. Finally, planning is easier on your budget, because you can spread your spending out over many months rather than having a weekend-long spending spree. It will limit impulse buying when you are standing at the garden center, completely overwhelmed.

 #gardengoals

I am not a trained farmer, I don’t have any education in horticulture or botany. I simply have an interest in growing things. I work full-time and have a family that takes a lot of my attention so I do not have unlimited time. And it is just me doing most of the work. (My honey loves the flowers that I grow every summer, but he is not interested in helping me with projects and I have accepted that.) I also have a limited budget for plants, tools, amendments, and labor. But I do have beautiful gardens every year and I have a lot of fun and get a lot of pride and satisfaction growing flowers, vegetables, and herbs.

Setting #gardengoals keeps me focused because I am one person and I can only do so much in 12 months. If I am puttering around week after week without focus, the things that need attention don’t get done. Concentrating on a small number of things ensures that least a few things are actually completed every year. 

Take a few minutes this week and write down the things you really want to accomplish this year. Maybe it’s grow a tomato or create a rose bush hedge or start composting. Here's my list:

1. Clear another bed near the dahlia bed 
2. Replace the rotted raised vegetable bed
3. Keep the new crepe myrtle alive
4. Figure out the bed near the shed – is it shady? part shade? full shade? Why do I hate that section of the yard so much even though it is so central to the backyard?
5. Try growing two new summer vegetables
6. Dress up the patio with larger rectangular planters to hide the utilities

Back in 2019, I made my garden goals public by posting them here in my blog. Looking back recently at this post, I recognized that I actually met most of the goals I set! I am proud of myself. Maybe I am better at keeping goals than I thought?

Start here

Over the next few blog posts, I am going to share some simple steps to get you started growing flowers and vegetables. I am excited to help you get started on your gardening journey no matter where you are growing. It could be your windowsill or some pots on your patio or stoop. Maybe you have a plot in your community garden or have some space in your backyard. All of those places are excellent places to grow some plants. Starting something new can be overwhelming. Start small, be realistic, and have fun with your successes and failures. So start with writing down a few goals for this year and check back through the spring and summer to see how you are progressing.

Serenity comes when you trade expectations for acceptance

Serenity comes when you trade expectations for acceptance.

That quote is appropriate for me this time of year because my mind is filled with images of overflowing vegetable beds and lush flower rows. Everyday I am out in the elements, carving out time in the day, creating the best possible condition that I can to realize my ambitious gardening goals for this season. You can relate, right?

But the reality is that many seedlings don't survive the transplant from the safety of the starter cells tray to the big bad world of the beds.  



Some of the survivors: Carrots, tomato, green beans



I have a terrible problem in the spring with birds chomping on seedlings. I don't really get it. They aren't eating them because I find the broken off plant laying there in the dirt. While I thought I would be giving away all the tomato seedlings I would not have space for,  I am actually replanting the starts that have not survived. 

So. Frustrating. 

Last year I used twisted metal hangers to keep them away. This year I grabbed, well not grabbed, more like very carefully placed rose bush trimmings around the tomato and bean seedlings to keep the birds away. These tactics work to a certain degree, but are not the perfect solution.

I have to remind myself that as soon as the little plants reach a more mature size the birds won't bother with them anymore. Serenity comes when you trade expectations for acceptance.

Have you tried winter sowing?

What is winter sowing?

A couple of years ago a method of seed-starting called winter sowing appeared on my radar. I was intrigued because it sounded so easy and pretty foolproof, and it does not require any special equipment like lights and heat mats. But at that time, after doing a little research, I had the sense that the weather had to be consistently cold for it to work. That winter seemed to be too mild here in the mid-Atlantic so I decided to not try.

And it's back

Winter sowing has come up a couple of times at gardening events this winter by people who LOVE it. Back in February at a seed swap there was an unplanned discussion and lots of questions. I came away hearing that it was getting too late at that point in early February. I am ALWAYS late starting my seeds, but I was not ready so I let it go, promising myself, “There’s always next year.” 

And it came up AGAIN last night at my garden club meeting. The guest speaker just started what she called her tropical vegetables – tomatoes, eggplant, peppers – using the winter sowing method so I am going to finally try it. Don’t be scared off by the rules, gardeners!

My first attempt at winter sowing, a method to start seeds.

How to do it 

Essentially, you start seeds in clear, enclosed containers, like a milk jug or bakery clam shell that resemble a tiny greenhouse, put the trays outside in a sunny location – yup, you read that right – and leave them alone. This process is replicating seeds that are sitting in your dirt right now waiting for the right time to start sprouting. You can see in the photo:

1. I used a cupcake container from the grocery story
2. Poked drainage holes
3. Labeled each well
4. Filled the wells with seed starting mix that I thoroughly watered
5. Plopped 4 seeds per well in the mix and lightly covered
6. Placed outside in a sunny spot that is sheltered from wind

I hope you are going to try it, too! Check back so see how it goes.

Winter sowing resources on the web

Wikipedia 

Maryland Grows Blog 

WinterSown.org