Grow Your Own Vegetable Seeds The Professional Way

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Sounds good, right? Well it is! But don't throw away your seed catalogs just yet (not for a few years anyway) . . . because consistent success with the home propagation of all your crops won't come overnight. For while some vegetables—beans and tomatoes, for example—are easy to grow for seed, others require special care and may defy your initial efforts. Meanwhile, you'll still need those of "tried and true" sources of seed to keep the garden going.

ANNUALS OR BIENNIALS?

The first thing you must know about each vegetable you wish to grow for seed is whether it is an annual, biennial, or perennial . . . because each type requires slightly different treatment. (Since perennial vegetables-such as asparagus, artichokes, and rhubarb—are long-lived, produce seed for many years running, and—in any case—are best propagated from cuttings . . . they will not be discussed any further in this article.)

Annuals include such popular garden vegetables as peas, beans, tomatoes, lettuce, melons, squash, corn, and spinach. They are the easiest types of plants to grow for seed because they mature in a single year. You just sow one generation of seeds in the spring .. . and harvest the next in the fall.

Biennial vegetables—such as carrots, onions, celery, cabbage, turnips, and beets—are a little tougher. They take two years to produce seed and therefore (in many parts of North America) must somehow be "stored over" during the winter. Root cellars, cool basements and pantries, and even covered pits dug deep in the ground will all do this job nicely for most crops. Then, after the danger of heavy spring frosts has passed, you can replant the vegetables in your garden. If you live in a section of the country where winters are mild (coastal California, for example), you can just leave them in the soil to begin with . . . protected perhaps during occasional cold spells by heavy mulches and/or makeshift shelters. Most biennials will produce seed in the summer of their second year.

HOW TO GET STARTED

The best time to begin planning next year's harvest is this winter . . . when you're still hungrily poring over your favorite mailorder catalogs or wandering through local garden centers dreaming of spring. For the seeds you select now will greatly influence the quality of those you pick later.

Since the main object in growing your own seed is to perpetuate vegetable strains especially suited to your particular garden, you should avoid unfamiliar varieties that have not been tested in your region. Stick with the types that have already proven their worth in your neighbors' yards . . . or better still, in your own!

Also avoid the newer hybrid vegetable strains in favor of standard, "open-pollinated" varieties ... which still dominate the market. For, though the hybrids have many virtues, they tend-like that old barnyard half-breed, the mule-to be sterile. Moreover, the offspring of those that do produce viable seed rarely resemble their "thoroughbred" parents.

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