This Wednesday,
there’s going to be a Seed Saving Workshop at the Brodie Resource Library in
partnership with Roots to Harvest. Everyone is invited to learn from local seed
saving experts from Superior Seed Savers how to save seeds from some of your garden
plants. They will cover the basics of seed saving, and share tips to make your
seed harvest a success. But if you’re too excited to wait until Wednesday to
learn how to save seeds from your plants, fear not - the Thunder Bay Public
Library has some fantastic books that will get you started!
My favourite book for
beginner seed savers is Seedswap:
the Gardener’s Guide to Saving and Swapping Seeds by Josie Jeffrey. Jeffrey covers the
basics of how seeds reproduce, then shares different techniques for drying out
seeds, and raising seedlings. She also talks about the benefits of seed swaps
and libraries, and describes how to create one yourself. Finally, she has
included a directory that explains how to save seeds from some common plants;
most of the plants she covers are herbs and vegetables, but she includes a few
flowers as well.
If you just want to
save seeds from vegetables, you need to check out Seed
Saving: A Beginner’s Guide to Heirloom Harvesting by Caleb Warnock. Warnock owns the
heirloom seed company SeedRenaissance.com, which specializes in non-hybrid
seeds. He jokes at the beginning of the book that if you follow his tips, you
will know how to put him out of business. But in his experience, most people
think it’s really hard to save seeds (plus we have the convenience of being
able to buy seeds from grocery stores every spring). So he wrote his book to
preserve this knowledge (and ideally to help bring it back to people). Seedsaving
is a fantastic reference book, going into detail on the five seed types, seed
genetics, and how to prevent wild seeds. What I really liked was his list of
vegetable species that can cross pollinate with each other (so if you’re going
to save seeds from these species, make sure you keep the plants away from one
another). He ends the book with an in depth look at forty common vegetables and
how to save seeds from them. Overall, Seedsaving is a fantastic reference for
anyone interested in vegetable seeds.
The most
comprehensive reference book on seed saving that we have is The
Complete Guide to Saving Seeds by Robert Gough and Cheryl Moore-Gough. Starting with some information
on harvesting/cleaning seeds, seed storage, and germination, the book then has
200 pages dedicated to saving the seeds from vegetables, herbs, flowers, and
even trees.
If you’re interested
in starting your own seed swap or library, check out Seed
Libraries and Other Means of Keeping Seeds in the Hands of the People by Cindy Conner. Conner believes that
“Whoever owns the seeds controls the food supply” (17), so it’s her aim to
get seeds back into the hands of the people. She details the history of big
seed business, and goes through the many benefits of seed swaps and libraries
(which includes preserving the genetic diversity of plants, cultural heritage,
and saving money for gardeners). Then she shares her many tips and resources
for starting your own seed swap or library. The one thing this book assumes is
that you already know how to save seeds; so if you need help with that, you’ll
need to check out one of the other books first.
All of these and more
can be found at your local library. And don’t forget to go to Brodie on
Wednesday, September 20th for the Seed Saving Workshop - it starts at 6:30pm in
the Fireside Reading Room.
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