Seed saving and other permaculture principals

The beautiful Madagascar Bean

On the weekend, I attended a seed saving workshop organised and run by some amazingly fervent inner west Sydneysiders, passionate about seed saving, permaculture, composting, bees and growing their own food in their backyards. The workshop was held in Michele Margolis' award winning backyard in Enmore and her sidekick Jane Mowbray, chronic seed saver. I had been thinking about saving my own seed for a while but have always been worried about not doing it properly and that my seeds would never come to fruition. However, after watching so many of the plants in my own garden pop up from seed that had been dropped - I thought, well, really, surely it cannot be that hard. And it really is not at all and I am going to be doing a lot more of it from now on. 

Jane collecting seed from a brassica

Saving seeds varies slightly between plants, mostly with plants that will fruit and then flower (e.g. broccoli, kale, spinach, carrot etc) as opposed to plants that flower and then fruit (e.g. tomatoes, capsicum, eggplant). 


Saving seed from vegies such as spinach, kale, mustard, lettuce etc let a couple of plants go to seed, let them dry out for a couple of weeks in the ground, pull them out and store them in a dry position and then collect your seed. 

Collecting seed from pumpkin and zucchini

Saving seed is not only a way to save money but it is important to maintain our heritage seeds so that we don't lose varieties in the future; "So?" you may have asked? "Why does it matter if we lose a couple of varieties of tomatoes or eggplant...Why does it matter?" Genetic diversity is important for the continuation of a species, and it's what drives change and adaptation in the living world. In the case of growing food and gardening, diversity insures that we'll be able to continue eating the plants we now eat. Many of the large chain supermarkets only sell a few (if that) varieties of fruit and vegetables. These vegetables are often picked too early and stored for long periods of time, often leaving them bland, tasteless and less nutritious. 

The advantage of picking from your own garden is that you know exactly where your food comes from, you know there will be no chemicals or pesticides used in the process and how easy is it to just head out the back to grab some lettuce or spinach leaves! Now, unless I had more time than I could probably grow more than I am able to but even if you are able to only grow a few things - it is definitely worth it. 

Chickens free-ranging!

Michele uses styro foam boxes to sow seed. These boxes can be picked up for free from fruit shops and supermarkets - they are a great way to start growing your own food, especially salad greens and herbs. I have some in my garden which are painted...a great activity to do with kids.

 

Turmeric - I don't have any growing in my garden but I have been inspired to plant some. Michele made a delicious  pumpkin and turmeric soup. YUM.

A good way to test your seeds reliability  - place them in a damp paper towel for a few days and  open  it up to see what the germination rate is. I will definitely be trying this technique. I think it will save a lot of frustration and heartache!

There are more workshops coming up so feel free to contact me if you are interested and I can lend you the details.