Seed Saving and stuff...

I wouldn't normally mix blogs, it can get confusing - but I am also blogging the 'seeds sown from a seed circle 2012' and the link is here

If you don't know what a seed circle is - Real Seeds invented it - info here

If you do want to participate in one, we have a few on the Grapevine on this board here. Beware - that general seed swapping rules DO apply [and we will remove any posts that don't] however the circles are for anyone to participate in as the seeds are sent to a central person first.

This is a pic of some Dobbie's Purple Beetroot - which I am saving from for me, for friends, for circles and the rest will go to the Heritage Seed Library. The tops of those are about 6 ft tall, and you can see how big the beets themselves are!

We will start a new set of circles next January on the Grapevine - this year's haven't been so good for obvious reasons, all the more reason to plan to save your seeds so that in the event of failures, other people may have seeds that you want that you can swap with - plus the seeds evolve as our ever changing climate does.

My main aim is to save from the best 10% of any open pollinated crop - whilst selecting for the things that I want.

So in leeks, the LAST 10% to bolt - in tomatoes, the first 10% to crop.

If you want a link to some decent seed saving guidelines - well, you could do worse than one written for schools, which I helped write and take photos for. Linkie is here. Enjoy!