Saving Seeds

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Insects pollinate carrot flowers, so make sure blossoming carrot varieties are planted at least 200 feet apart. (Serious savers will separate flowering carrots by 1,000 feet to assure seed purity.) Queen Anne's lace (wild carrot) crosses freely with cultivated carrots, with disastrous results. If you want to save carrot seed in an area where this lacy wildflower is common, fasten net bags over the carrot blooms to keep insects out, and pollinate the blossoms yourself by picking several from one plant and rubbing them over the surface of flowers on your seed plants. Carrot seeds shatter about two months after flowering. You can tie a small paper bag over drying seed heads to catch more of the seeds.

Some onionsdo go to seed the first year, but those aren't the ones you want to reproduce. Instead, choose bulbs that have kept well in cool, dry winter storage. Replant them a few inches apart in early spring. Separate different varieties of this insect-pollinated crop by at least 100 feet. Onion seed also shatters readily, so watch closely for the black seeds to form, then collect the seed heads promptly.

Herbs and Flowers

Growing herbs and flowers to seed is a whole other story, but I can't resist recommending a few easy savers here. Basil, dill and parsley are all worth keeping. (Biennial parsley needs to overwinter in a pot indoors if your winters are severe.)

My favorite flowers for saving are balsam, calendula, California poppy, cleome (spider flower), columbine, cornflower, cosmos, lunaria (dollar plant), flax, gaillardia(blanketflower), hollyhock, Johnny-jump-up, larkspur, marigold, morning-glory, moonflower, portulaca, scarlet runner bean, Shasta daisy, snapdragon, sweet William and zinnia.

THE SEED SAVER'S SEED SAVER

No discussion of saving seed would be complete without mention of Kent Whealy's Seed Savers Exchange, a wonderful grassroots network of gardeners who keep and trade seeds of homegrown vegetable varieties. Kent started the exchange soon after his wife's grandfather died. The old man had recently given the young couple seeds for tomatoes, beans and morning-glories that his forebears had saved since emigrating from Bavaria four generations before. Realizing how close his family had come to losing this unique legacy, Whealy wondered how many more heirloom varieties were in an equally precarious position.

The Seed Savers Exchange Kent organized to help preserve such heirlooms works on two levels. "Nonlisted members" can buy the two annual publications for $12, then order seed from members for $1 per sample. "Listed members" (those who offer vegetable seed for trade) can get seed free from other members by sending postage with their requests. I'm proud to say I'm a life member of the SSE. My all-time favorite lettuce variety, the Mescher, comes from an SSE member whose family has saved it since the early 1800s.

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