Chamomile is one of those plants. (Those are the green plants in the foreground of this picture from last August.)
These plants were harvested just as the seed was starting to mature. A little bit earlier than it seems they should be ready.
We brought them into the greenhouse and spread them out for a couple of weeks before threshing the dried up flower heads.
It’s impressive what a few days delay in harvest can do to the seed yield.
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And behind the chamomile is a Brassica rapa – also brought in to finish maturing indoors.
But we had a lot more flexibility to harvest that Brassica seed before it shattered.
And we were waiting until there was a certain shade of brown and texture to the pods before bringing them in.
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With some seed crops, we rely more on previous experience and timing to guide our harvests.
For other seed crops we mostly rely on visual indicators.
You just have to remember which are which!
My next free online workshop is on Thursday May 19 at 2pm Eastern …
It will be about harvest efficiency – more details coming soon!