Comments on: The Great Seed Exchange, And A Little Update From The 2010 Tiny Garden

By: Toni Dill

Toni Dill — Thu, 18 Sep 2014 22:53:00 +0000

I’m new, and I started your blog from the begging, looking thru each post. Been vegetarian 10 years, developed fibromyalgia, and heard vegan might cure me, and was referred here! They said you had symptoms and cured yourself, so amazing! Anyhow, I don’t know if you had stumbled upon this, but Native American used to do 3 sisters gardens. You plant corn, when it gets 2 foot high, you plant peas or pole beans, and climbing beans that puts nitrogen in your soil, and when the peas or beans take off, you plant gourds, pumpkins, zucchini, anything like that. The peas climb the corn, and feed it, and the gourds shade the ground, requiring less watering.

By: Meghan

Meghan — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:33:57 +0000

Thanks, Sarah! That sounds like a great book, I’ll see if my library has a copy! That’s a lot of information!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:13:47 +0000

@ Meghan, I thought I’d check my resources & see if I could help answer your question. I’m looking it up in the Seed to Seed book by Suzanne Ashworth. It’s an excellent book if you’re looking for one. So re: squash & zucchini, they are all a part of the same family (genus) that has 6 different species. Crossing will happen within the same species but you’re safe saving seeds in the family as a whole if you only grow 1 variety of each species. So- crookneck, straightneck & zucchini will cross with each other. It recommends a 1/2 mile separation so if neighbors are growing then it might break that rule. It also suggests isolation OR hand pollinating. It’s making it sound like hand pollinating these guys is pretty easy. It says that the fruits have a greater number of viable seeds when cut from the vine and left to sit for 3 wks or longer. Rinse in colander to remove strings or debris, rub in a wire strainer if seeds still have flesh attached that is hard to remove. Drain & dry. They’ll remain viable for 6 yrs when stored properly. Cucumbers are a part of this family too (cucurbitaceae) but not the same species so they won’t cross pollinate with squash & zucchini. If your cucumber produces bitter fruit then you shouldn’t save the seeds. All cucumbers will cross with each other. Grow to full maturity & allow to ripen past edible stage. Fruits will be large and beginning to soften.. Some will change from green to white or deep yellow or orange. Cut open & scoop the seeds into a large bowl. The gelatinous sack around each seed needs removed by fermentation. Add 50% seeds, 50% water (equal parts) in a bowl or jar. Set away from direct sunlight in a protected location & allow to ferment. Will take 1-3 days depending on the temperatures. Smell will be pungent and some mold may form over the top. Stir it up twice a day. Fermentation is complete when most of the seeds have settled to the bottom and seedcases are floating on the top. Stir while adding as much water as possible, which allows the clean seeds to settle to the bottom & the debris and hollow seeds to float. You can pour of what’s floating. Repeat until you have only clean seeds on the bottom. Strain & dampen to remove moisture. Lay out on a cookie sheet to dry. Seed will remain viable for 10 years when stored properly.

By: Sayward

Sayward — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:10:02 +0000

@ Meghan – I think as long as they are fully mature then you should be fine. The seeds will continue to grow in size but they’re viable as long as the fruit is mature – their size after that is not so important, I think.

By: Meghan

Meghan — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:36:09 +0000

For zucchinis/squashes/cucumbers, is there a certain size that you should let the plants get before harvesting them to get the seeds? Bennings Green Tint, for example, seems to have much better developed seeds if I let the squash stay on the vine longer than I would if I were just planning on eating it.

By: Sarah D.

Sarah D. — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 20:34:31 +0000

I’ll have extra cantaloup, dill & pepper seeds (not bell but spicy varieties…jalapeno, cayenne, habanero, banana- hot & sweet)…we’ll see. I haven’t gathered the pepper seeds yet. I’m in the process of fermenting the tomato seeds so we’ll see how much good seed I have from those. If that goes well then I might have some better boy, cherry & self-seeding cherry (less tasty but still great dehydrating). Keep me looped in on the seed exchange process, I’m willing to share my extras.

By: Sayward

Sayward — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 21:11:28 +0000

@ sarah – I did not manage to do potato tires this year, but I am planning a modified version for next year. My big scheme is to mix a *ton* of perlite into the dirt. I think my soil was way too dense last time. Maybe next year we’ll be experimenting at the same time – we can compare notes!

By: windycityvegan

windycityvegan — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:35:10 +0000

For those of you letting things just go to seed, be sure you do some research about second generation/hybrid offspring – I know that if some of my squash or tomato plants cross-pollinate with different species of their type of plant, seeds that produce the next generation do not always yield good results. Nothing sucks more than meticulously saving seeds, only to find that the generation they produce result in really leafy plants with little else because you didn’t space the first generation plant species out far enough! SSE has some great information about species-specific precautions to take if you plan on saving your own seed.

I have Moon & Star seeds right now, but the rest of my cucurbits fell victim to squash bugs. I will probably have some good brassica seeds after my autumn garden winds down, I will keep you posted.

By: sarah

sarah — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:44:56 +0000

I can’t believe you guys are just now getting tomatoes… (in Missouri) ours were pretty abundant until the last several weeks and the heat just killed them. I agree with the “lush but no fruit” consensus though. Everything did well, but it did seem like there was more plant than tomato if you know what I mean. And it wasn’t a good year for most berries.

We mostly plant snow peas (spring only) cucumbers (pickling) and tomatoes (5 or so different varieties) although we did do a lot of peppers this year for some reason. The fun thing about gardening is that every year you realize things you should do differently… one particular variety of tomato was so unbelieveable this year that we are planting nothing but that one for next year – I saved seeds for us, but unfortunately didn’t get as many as I’d like, otherwise I’d love to share.

We did a lot of lacto-fermented pickles this year which was nice. I got quite a bit of things canned (although can never have enough stewed tomatoes). I think if everyone keeps a seed swap in mind for next year it will be awesome.

Sayward I was curious although I think I already know the answer – did you try your potato tire tower again this year? We do have a 600 sq. foot garden but I don’t like the potatoes taking up so much room so I try to incorporate veggies and herbs into my landscaping and I was thinking about trying that… but only if it worked better than last year. Otherwise I may just section off a corner of the backyard.

By: Kelly H.

Kelly H. — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:04:50 +0000

Neat idea. I’ve never thought about saving any seeds except those from garlic. I have TONS of those to plant/share!

My garden was also very lush – chard, spinach, kale and snap peas galore – but not very fruity at all. The tomato plants grew HUGE but bore very little fruit. A couple small ones here and there. I have two plants off in their own barrel and they are covered in green tomatoes…We’ll see if they redden up. I have a few peppers, but I’m not sure if they’re supposed to be green or red and I’m also not sure how big I’m supposed to let them get. I had starts and no instructions!

Meghan – I didn’t realize you could transplant basil. Thanks for the info!