Collecting Seeds Plus and an Historical Footnote

My seeds in my French Market Bag     

Many of the flowers in the garden are seeding now so it is an ideal time to collect them for saving and sharing with other gardeners. The importance of collecting and saving seeds must not be underestimated for many species of plants have been lost over time. Also the seeds of flowers that have acclimated in your garden this year will fare better next for they created a DNA memory of the conditions where they resided. For example the marigolds saved this year will double in size and require less watering than those fresh from a packet next summer.

 

Collect seeds when the sun has dried all the morning dew, which is mid-morning of late, and store them in a zip lock bag. Remember to keep the seeds at a constant temperature above freezing for optimum results; I often keep mine in a French Market bag hanging in the laundry room or stored in a cardboard box under my bed.

When you store your seeds place one of those silica packets that seem to be in every shoe box or pocket of anything we purchase. The silica will prevent any possible moisture from spoiling the seeds, keeping them pristine until next spring. And remember to include a slip of paper in the bag with information about color, height, heat tolerance, and where in the garden they performed well. By Spring you will have forgotten the details your notes will provide.

 

When the great pyramids were opened, archaeologists discovered caches of seeds among other artifacts. Upon planting some of these seeds, stored for thousands of years, germinated primarily because of the dry and warm temperature conditions within the pyramids where they were stored. There is also an amazing report of lupine (Lupinus articicus) seeds over 10,000 years old sprouting as well. Discovered in the Yukon of Alaska they were found deep within the burrows of ancient lemmings buried in permafrost silt dating to the Pleistocene epoch. The tenacity of Nature’s plan is always inspiring.

 

*An interesting bit of history for gardeners. Many heirloom varieties of seeds have been lost over time, and sometimes purposefully. From ancient times through the Greco/Roman days and beyond there existed many plant species that effectively acted as natural birth control. Although always a subject of religious discussion, birth control had been left in the hands of women and their midwives until authority over it was transferred to the Church. Within decades of the 1869 Church edict outlawing birth control most of these species of plants had become extinct.