Free Seed
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
By Penn Parmenter:
Free seed for everyone! If you grow a garden you have seed - in greater abundance than you can imagine. Right now, hanging in your garden are the seeds of food, fruit, herbs and flowers just waiting for you to come and collect them.
When I first started collecting seed over 15 years ago I excitedly headed to the garden and, without any planning, gleaned about 5 lbs of seed from what was already there. If you plan ahead you’ll have even more, but right now is the time to go get your free seed from what’s already growing.
Brown paper bags, scissors, and a sharpie are what I grab when I head out for seed. I often cut off and drop the seedheads into a brown paper bag - labeled with name, date, and notes about growing conditions - to be cleaned later. The seed and seed heads will continue to dry in a brown paper bag in our dry climate.
I especially enjoy this cleaning activity in winter when it is snowing. Pulling out a bag or two of basil or dill seed can send you into the stratosphere of aromatherapy. There are much worse jobs than cleaning seed, I promise.
The first time you smell carrot seed, you sort of drink it in. In fact, the scent is so fabulous that my smartest horse picked the lock to the gate with her lips and let all three horses into the garden where they consumed half the carrot seed which, after two long years, was finally ready to harvest. I learned the hard way how attractive ripe seed can be to animals.
Much seed shows you when it is ready to harvest. The seed heads or capsules turn from green to brown; they begin to crack open and with the help of a deer or the wind, toss the seed out to catch in a divot in the ground and wait for conditions to be just right.
Flowers like Penstemon, Delphinium, Castilleja (Indian Paintbrush) and Columbine all have handy, upright capsules that hold seed like a cup. You can collect it by simply tipping the stems into a plastic ziploc bag and shaking the seed straight in – no cleaning required. The stem can be left behind. This is the most efficient way of collecting dry seed but observation and timing are required. For wildflowers, first find them while they bloom, then mark the spot and return in the fall to collect the seeds.
Peas and beans are famously easy to save. We always leave some on the vine plus, a few over-ripe pods usually get away from us. Until the pod dries, let them be; then put them into a paper bag to finish drying completely. Bean pods are easy to empty, they will shatter readily and drop the seed right out. All legumes are in the ‘easy’ to save category, not only for the little labor required, but also because they are self-pollinating so they rarely cross. Grow them, save them, plant them.
Lettuce is another ‘easy’ self-pollinator. Some always bolts, or shoots up flowers when the summer gets hot or after a long harvest. You can cut off the puffy seed heads as they mature or you cut the whole top off the plant after some of the seed has started to fly. Like a dandelion, lettuce seed will continue to throw its seed in the bag. Those little parachutes give the seed a ride to a new home. After everything has dried, much of the seed will already be in the bottom of the bag. You can rub the seed in your hands or through a screen to separate it from the chaff.
Peppers are another good choice to start with. Let the pepper ripen completely, then simply extract and rinse off the seeds and dry them on paper.
As for Brassicas, the whole family crosses and many are notoriously quick to bolt. So, if your bok choy, radishes and broccoli are all blooming at once your seed will produce a ‘brad-choy’, or ‘brok-rad’ or something. However, crossed Brassica seed is a great candidate for growing nutritious sprouts!
Vegetables that you only grow one variety of are easily saved. Orach (mountain spinach), basil, strawberries, arugula, mizuna, and spinach are easy to collect but will cross with other varieties. Corn is wind pollinated so you need at least 2 miles between varieties.
Lots of people are inclined to collect squash seed but hand-pollination or isolation is required for the seed to come true. There are 4 squash families. If you grow only one variety from each family or just one variety of any, and no other neighbors are growing squash within a mile, the result will be true seed.
If not – you will have a cross, the seed will not be stable, and the resulting squash will likely disappoint.
Of course, the Love Apple, the mighty tomato, also gives abundant seed. The process involves fermentation but isn’t difficult. Save the seed of open-pollinated varieties; hybrids will not come true.
Marigolds, calendula, dill, fennel, Dahlias, morning glories, garden huckleberry, zinnias, Valerian, Johnny Jump Ups, Poppies, etc. will fill your seed stash for many years to come. Store seeds cool, dry and dark.
Penn and Cord Parmenter grow food and seeds near Westcliffe at 8,120 ft. Both are regional high-altitude gardening instructors. See their gardens, passive solar greenhouses, and Miss Penn’s Mountain (high altitude) Seeds at www.pennandcordsgarden.com
