These are the Tourne-Sol fields. The 2 magenta rectangles are our 2 main seed production blocks. They are about 1200 feet apart. With a row of trees and a couple of greenhouses and a bunch of cover crops between them. With this distance between seed blocks, we can grow a variety of the same crop … More How I isolate seed production block
Chufa nuts. Earth Almonds. Tiger Nuts. Good old Cyperus esculentus. Should I even be talking about this for #seedsavingformarketgrowers? We don’t actually grow any Chufa for our CSA baskets. Though at times I have been surprised at the yield and wondered if we could make it work. (Still not curious enough to actually propose it … More Are Chufa Nuts For Market Growers?
Dill and Cilantro just want to go to the seed. But does that make them great candidates for #seedsavingformarketgrowers? For a home garden – I think it’s a definite YES (Unless they’ve already self seeded so effectively that you never have to buy or save seed again!) I have a few reservations recommending saving Dill … More Dill and Cilantro just want to go to the seed.
Is corn a good fit for #seedsavingformarketgrowers? If you’re growing an open pollinated variety (and not an F1 hybrid) and if you have a strategy to manage cross pollination, then the answer is YES! That is assuming you’re even growing corn for your market garden. (Corn’s $ per bedfoot might not make it the most … More Saving Corn Seed In Your Market Garden
Are sunflowers good for #seedsavingformarketgrowers? ???????????????????? There’s the squirrels, the birds, and the children tearing up those mature heads to get the seeds. But you can work your way around that by covering the flowers once they start to set seeds with onion bags. You can also cut the seed heads and set them to … More Can Market Growers Save Their Sunflower Seeds?
Love in the mist – what an aptly named plant – whimsical wispy mist leaves surroundings a lovely seed pod. Like something from another planet. I came upon Nigella damascena when I apprenticed at Orchard Hill Farm. I’d been saving vegetable and herb seeds for a few years. But had done little with cut flower … More Love In The Mist
Oh, how I would like to be your Amaranth guide. To walk you through A. cruentus, A. hypochondriacus, and A. caudatus by way of A. tricolor and those other Amaranth species.. I would like to tell you which Amaranths have hanging flowers and which stand up straight. Which have white seeds and which black. And … More Oh, how I would like to be your Amaranth guide.
Poppies with their big showy petals and their fat green pods are next on #seedsavingformarketgrowers. There are a number of different poppy species. But what I have in mind when I’m talking about poppies are the species Papaver somniferum. And they are very high on the EASY seed saving list. In some cases you simply … More Poppies in your garden? Save their seeds!
Calendula will teach you about patience and harvesting seed at the right time and a bit about the frustration of seed cleaning. Patience Once the petals drop from calendula flowers, you’ll see green seeds sitting right there on the flower stem. Very tempting to harvest but if you go to rub them off the plant, … More Calendula And Patience In Saving Seeds
I’ve chosen Strawflowers as the first cut flower for #seedsavingformarketgrowers because it is so easy. Strawflowers clearly tell you when they are ready – the inside of the flower gets all fluffy and you can gently rub that fluff away to reveal a tiny cup full of seed. And that seed is pretty much perfectly … More Strawflower Seed Is A Great Place To Start