Feb 11 Caleb Warnock Class: The Easy Seeds

Heirloom Gardening Class Feb 11, 2012 by Caleb Warnock

Seeds handed out - Yellow Crookneck Summer Squash , Lincoln Peas,  Blue Lake Pole Beans

1. Why do we need to save seeds?

• Self-sufficiency
• Have all things in common
• Always have seed and food
• Seed companies are controlling seeds by sterilizing and copyrighting
• Involve children. Pass the knowledge down.
• We need a living, working knowledge of seed sowing. Not a book or knowledge for when we might need it.
• 98% of all seed available in catalogs in 1910 are now extinct
• Unfortunately most winter varieties are extinct
• We need local seed exchange because we need varieties that grow well locally

 2.  General Notes

• Easy to save—potatoes, lettuce, most tomatoes, peas, beans (self pollinates before flower opens)
• Almost impossible to save seed—corn, carrots
• Seed to Seed by Susan Ashworth is the Bible of seed saving, you need it
• Caleb uses Bloodmeal, and Bone Meal to “fertilize” his plants
• Caleb sprays vinegar to kill weeds, you can make your own vinegar by filling a 5 gallon bucket with apples, leave for 6 weeks and pour off the vinegar.

 3. You must keep track of the variety of seed

• Name of variety is essential to know when it grows seasonally and in what climate.
• If you aren’t going to keep track, don’t participate. The work will be wasted. We won’t know what season to plant the seeds.
• Make a map or diagram of your garden and label (must keep track in the house on paper)  Any garden markers won’t be reliable
• Separate your plants so they don’t confuse you when harvesting seed

4. Canned seed packages for emergency

• Will spoil in the can
• Take out and put in freezer
• Re-fridgerated seeds last for 3-5 years
• For seeds to last forever, you must freeze them, or grow them and save the seeds
• Low moisture and low temperature are needed for long term storage
• Thoroughly dry seed first before storing

Lettuce (not spinach)

• You can cut to eat and it will grow  back
• Schools of thought on lettuce isolation
• 1. Extremely strict isolation 0% crossover—50 ft apart
• 2. 0.1 crossover ok
• any kind of lettuce, side by side, will be 99.9% pure, acceptable
• Don’t eat some, let them grow for seed
• Will grow 4 ½ ft tall
• When the seed heads first appear (some dandelion like flowers) cut off the whole thing, put upside down in paper bag for 2 weeks.  80% of the seeds will come off into the bag. Rub between hands back into the bag.
• Label bag!
• Soil must be 45⁰ for seed germination, so start indoors if too cold.
• When lettuce goes to seed, they all look alike so you need to have a good diagram

 Peas & Beans

·        Leave some pods to dry on the vine, done—couple of months from when it stops producing. Shell. Leave the 1^st ones to mature to dry.  The first fruits are the most prolific seeds.

·        Peas don’t like a lot of water when sprouting.

·        You can plant your peas outside on St Patricks day without any protection.

 Beans

·        Pole and bush types, pole is much more prolific. Must be propped up as soon as dry, put in freezer 3 days to kill bugs before storing.

Tomatoes

·        2 kinds: potato looking leaf (20%) leaf type (easily crossed, pollinates after flower opens)

·        Tomato (80%) tomato looking leaf type (self-pollinating, does not cross significantly)

·        Each seed has a membrane around the seed with natural chemicals that prevent immediate germination. Place 3 days in sun in plastic container covered with plastic wrap. Rinse, dry on wax paper, store, or:

·        Scoop out seeds onto a paper towel and dry somewhere warm.  These seeds will germinate about 1 week later than the method that removed the membrane.

Potatoes

• Produce flowers that produce seeds. We don’t use them because they cross pollinate. We use genetic clones. Pieces of potato with eyes.
• Put in cool, dark place over winter. Can’t touch cement. No light. Leave dirt on.
• Can leave in ground if you use straw method. If straw, those left under the straw will grow again the next season.
• Don’t use grocery store potatoes, they are irradiated and/or sprayed with chemical to prevent sprouting.
• We’ll be able to get them from each other soon, for now try Seed Savers, Cooks or any other source you can find.

Squash

• Hand pollinate the ones that you want to save for seed
• Use some of the first to grow for saving seed
• Squash is insect pollinated
• Caleb’s book p. 17 talks about squash pollination
• Pollinate each female with 3 different male flowers from 3 different vines (you can use them up to 3 times) or you will have genetic depression after a few generations
• Night before, flower tip will be turning yellow and will not be open
• Tape the tips of females and 3 males, can use wide blue painters tape
• Next morning gently pull off the tape, if the flower opens within 2 min it’s ready, pollinate, then tape all around flower so no insect can burrow in
• The flower will fall off when it isn’t needed anymore
• Mark by tying bright colored something loosely around vine so you know which is for seed saving

Corn

• Is a very sad seed saving story
• Baker’s Creek tests every corn seed for GM (genetic modification)
• Only 3 uncontaminated sweet varieties left
• Corn is wind pollinated, cannot self-pollinate
• Corn pollen can travel 5 miles in wind
• You can hand pollinate corn, but it’s a huge amount of work
• Need at least 200 plants
• Corn has huge genetic depression

Root Vegetables

• All take two years to get seed
• Turnips, beets, rutabagas, onions, chard, carrots, spinach, garlic
• Plant, grow them all season
• Gather them in
• Put them in your basement
• Replant them the next year
• Use the best ones
• Let them grow out
• Save one variety to avoid cross contamination
• For onions, Spanish globes grow well in Utah
• *onions and garlic do cross pollinate (both alliums)

 Carrots (another sad story)

• Discussion of white tops, Queen Anne’s Lace
• It is basically impossible to save seeds from carrots because of the white top (which is everywhere)
• Your carrots must be 3 miles (some debate on that) from any white top

 Brassicas

• Will all cross pollinate (in the 2^nd year) Kale, Chinese Cabbage, Brussel Sprouts, cauliflower
• Only grow 1 variety and isolate them