Free Seed Project: Seed Saving Guide (Part 11)

Elise>> As a beginner gardener,

you may be intimidated

by the thought of saving seed,

but it is such an

easier-than-you-think skill

and critically important

because it allows you to maintain

control of your food source

and what you get to plant out each season.

We're going to be talking today

about why it's so important,

how to identify when the seed is ready to save,

as well as how to go about doing it.

Robin>> Yes, and I'd like to add in.

When I was a beginner gardener,

I was very intimidated by saving seeds.

It probably took me a few years

before I ever started doing it,

but then I realized how easy it is.

And as far as you getting your free seed pack,

with that one seed pack,

you can turn that into dozens

or hundreds of seed packs,

and you don't need another one

from us if you learn this basic skill

of how to save seeds.

So what you're seeing right now

is sort of the end stage

of the garden.

Here in Florida, it's mid-April,

which is kind of the equivalent of the end

of the summer in the northern climates.

We're past having tons to eat,

and we're actually

in the more of the seed-saving stage.

And so what I'm really excited about

is we have seeds in multiple different stages

that we're going to be able

to show you today.

Elise>> So when you are

letting things go to seed,

it's the end of season.

A lot of people have concerns

that they want to stop it,

and it's just not part of the natural process.

Once things decide to go to seed,

whether it be from temperature cues,

daylight, as the days start to shorten,

it cues the plants in like,

"Hey, we need to reproduce."

There's not much we can do

to slow that process down.

And we don't really want to

because we need to save some seed.

So as we go through this process,

different plants are going to bolt

or go to seed at different times.

So identifying when it's time

to save that seed is important.

If you harvest it too early,

the seed may not be viable,

and if you wait too long,

it may do what's called self-seeding,

which just means sending out a lot of volunteers.

Not the worst thing in the world,

but not as much in control

of how you save those seeds.

Robin>> Either self-seeding can be wonderful

or keeping a little more 
controlled in order to harvest.

Now, one quick question,

with a lot of these plants,

if they're starting to bolt just a little bit,

you can be pruning that back

to continue flushing out greens, right?

Elise>> So it depends on the plant.

So a lot of our herbs and stuff

can take pruning,

so if we want to buy a little time

with some of our basils and such,

you can prune those back

and it will extend your harvest season.

But certain things like the radish, for example,

or even your mustards,

when things bolt and go to seed,

it completely changes the 
flavor profile of the plant.

So you're going to find

that they don't taste quite as good.

They usually tend, especially 
with the leafy greens,

to get a lot more bitter.

The leaves get tougher.

With the root vegetables like radish,

it's going to make the root,

which is what we would harvest,

a lot harder and woodier.

So it's just not as appetizing.

Robin>> So once they're starting to bolt,

it's time to start saving seeds.

So should we start with

this beautiful radish right here?

Elise>> Yeah,

so when you have a plant that's bolted,

the first thing you're going to see

is not the seeds,

it's going to be the flowers.

All of these are going to pollinate themselves.

You don't have to be concerned

about trying to cross-pollinate

or do anything like that.

Sometimes when you first start searching

and Googling about seed saving,

it gets a little bit like next level

or extra steps that aren't actually necessary.

So just letting nature do its thing.

Robin>> Yes.

Elise>> At this point,

these leaves or these flowers

are being pollinated by bees.

And when that happens,

they will eventually start forming the seed pods,

which you can see

just starting to form along here.

Robin>> Yeah, we have the flower,

well, we have the bud,

then the flower,

then we have the very small seeds

just getting started,

and then the larger seed pods.

So this is kind of the earlier stage,

really early stage here, right?

Elise>> Yeah, this is the very beginning,

and it kind of does show you

as like a walk through.

So this, leave it be.

We are doing nothing with 
this plant at this point.

There's no viable seed to save.

We're going to be looking for

nice, thick, fat seed pods,

as well as a brown color to the seed pod,

before we're going to consider

saving seed from it.

Robin>> Yeah.

And before we move on to that,

actually, we have this radish here as well,

which is probably like a week or two behind.

Elise>> What would you say?

From here to here?

Elise>> I'd say at least two weeks,

Robin>> two weeks.

So you can see,

this is still a little bit 
more of the bolting stage.

It's not leggy yet,

the flowers are just starting to come out.

You know, I'll still eat it.

It's definitely a much rougher green,

but for me,

I'd still be cooking these up and everything.

But this is definitely on

to the seed saving stage.

Elise>> One of the fun things 
that I always like to do

especially when you're late in season

and just trying to get the 
lest of it out of it,....

These flowers are all edible.

They make a beautiful, fun addition to your salad.

So they taste just like the plant itself.

So if you're eating a radish,

it's going to have a zip, like a radish flavor.

With the kales, the same way.

So it's just a fun, flavorful addition.

You can use them as garnish

in your salads or on your plate.

Or you can even,

my daughter will pick entire flower salads

in her palm and just....

It's just a fun way

to involve the kids in the garden.

Robin>> And if you hear Patrick laughing

behind the camera, it's all good.

That's Patrick and Victoria.

Oh, there's a ladybug, lady beetle, ladybug.

Yeah, they're back there 
enjoying the garden with us.

I just want to say,

How many seeds?

So in your free seed pack, you get about 20,

is it 50 radish seeds?

How many seeds do you think you'd get

from this one plant?

Elise>> So you're probably looking

at 500 if not better

if you were to allow this fully to mature.

Robin>> 500!

Elise>> This is kind of like 
garden economics, right?

So we don't have to let all 
of our plants go to seed,

but it is important to save maybe an eighth.

So if you plant out 10 radishes,

eat eight of them for you

but leave two to save seed from.

You always want to leave at least two,

if not more, of plants.

It allows for better crops pollination,

you'll get better seed.

It also allows genetic mixing

so that you don't end up with something

over time showing up in your plants.

Robin>> Yeah.

Elise>> But that is important to think of.

You're not having to sacrifice much

to be able to save an insane amount of seeds.

Robin>> You're not sacrificing anything!

Elise>> Yeah!

Robin>> Some people could look at it as

"Well, I could have eaten that radish,"

but saving that one radish

can turn into 500 radishes

for you and your community.

So I'm incredibly excited about seed saving.

I mean, receiving this pack,

it's called the power of the seed pack

because with this one pack,

you can grow a lot of food.

But if you get into seed saving,

we're talking about you being able

to start giving packs

to people all throughout your community.

So it's super exciting.

So let's see some other plants

that are in the seed stage.

Elise>> So over here is cilantro.

And a lot of times we don't connect the dots,

especially with our herbs,

as far as fresh herbs and seeds.

So a lot of people will use coriander.

That's cilantro seed.

They're the same plant.

It's just eating the seed

which is ground up

or eating the herb which is fresh.

So this is going to look a little bit different

when it bolts or goes to seed.

So you're going to have not as much leggy growth.

It's going to stay a little bit more compact.

They stay kind of in place

but the leaves get really frilly.

I use the leaves as an indicator

that there is a change in bolting

because sometimes,

especially when we're new to gardening,

we may not know if that's

a natural part of it or whatnot.

So typically when plants go to seed,

they're going to change their leaf shape a lot.

Robin>> You've got these tiny little leaves

here on the radish for example.

Elise>> Yeah, which is completely different

from this one here.

Robin>> Yes.

Elise>> And the same goes here.

So this is our normal cilantro leaf,

a little yellow though,

and then this is what it looks like

when it is in seed or bolting.

So there is a completely different look to it.

And the same goes,

so regardless of where

the seed pods are forming

or the shape of those seeds,

anything in this green stage is not ready yet.

We need to wait for it to start to turn brown

before we're looking at saving seeds.

Robin>> Yes,

cilantro is in the beneficial 
insect attractant mix,

so you'll generally only get one

or a couple of cilantro seeds.

But that's the key - let that go to seed.

They're in the beneficial insect attracting mix

because they do attract insects,

so you actually want to let those go to flower

and go to seed.

Harvest them, and then next year

you can have a lot of cilantro.

So, I want to talk a little bit about

saving seeds from the basil.

In the basil mix,

you've got up to five different basils

your standard Italian, Thai, holy basil,

lemon basil, and red Reuben.

Of those, which would you say is the hardest?

They're not all the same for saving seeds, right?

Elise>> Yeah

we say is easy to save seed, and it is.

But there are some that are easier

to save seed from than others.

Things like arugula and radish

are super, super easy.

If you're questioning your abilities, start there.

If you're a little bit more confident

or just willing to play and explore and have fun,

then something like basil is a good halfway point.

You're going to be able to save seed,

but it's a little bit more nuanced

as far as when you're catching it

at just the right stage

if you're wanting to take 
the seed inside with you.

But that's an important point....

Robin>> just to say in the seed saving guide,

we have a list

and it tells you exactly which

seeds are the easiest, more middle level,

and the hardest.

So you can see which seeds

you want to try saving and which ones not.

Elise>> Yep, so if you're questioning

if you're going to be able to pull it off,

one option is to just let nature take its course.

I am a huge believer in a soil seed bank,

which basically means

allowing the plants to self-seed.

So the soil seed bank

is basically just allowing the plant

to take its natural course.

Instead of us trying to

control the situation

and catch it at just the right point

and take the seeds inside

to save and replant the next year,

if you're guessing when it's ready,

just let it go.

Let them flower,

let them produce their seed pods,

and let it distribute those seeds

as it sees fit.

Robin>> Yes, the term for that

is a self-seeding annual.

Well, some annuals are self-seeding,

it's like you can't stop it.

They're going to keep coming back

year after year,

and that can be an incredible thing.

So here in Albert's yard,

he has a plant called Ethiopian kale,

it's growing everywhere.

Arugula is also a really wonderful

self-seeding annual.

So you want that.

Just let these seeds go,

let them burst,

and then you'll get to know these plants

and have spots where they're coming up,

and you say, "Hey, I didn't have to do any work.

The Earth did the seed saving for me

and the planting."

And then you get the harvest.

Elise>> Yeah, I have arugula, for example,

that I planted three or four 
years ago in the garden,

and I don't save the seed from it.

I just let it do its thing.

It moved itself to a bed over,

and I didn't mind where it showed up in the bed.

So I just let the plants that popped up there

do their thing,

and then the ones that were in the walkway,

I just pulled up and ate.

I haven't planted it in three or four years.

So, I guess, when you allow things to self-seed,

it's a little unruly or less planned or formal,

but it's way less work and just as effective.

Robin>> Volunteers is another name.

If you ever hear of that, volunteers,

they've volunteered themselves.

So, basil.

Here we have your standard Italian basil,

which, honestly, these plants were not

super successful because of the downy mildew.

But I'd say, do you think we'll still be able

to get seeds out of them?

So, they weren't super successful in that regard,

but save seeds and next year,

hopefully, they'll be really successful.

What do you want to say about the basil?

Elise>> So, if you're trying 
to maintain your basil

throughout the season,

let's say it's halfway through your growing season

and it starts to bollt,

pruning can help.

We're going to go over

how to prune and when to prune

and all that in a different video.

But once you are ready

for it to do its thing,

you would just simply stop 
pruning out the flowers.

And at that point, it's going to go

through its natural evolution.

Now, basil is in the list

as far as like what's easiest to save

and what's not as easy to save.

The basil's halfway in there

because as it's flowering at the top,

it's also got viable seed at the bottom.

And it's not as obviously brown as the thick pods.

So this is maybe a little bit early.

But as soon as it gets the lightest yellow to it,

that means it's already put out its seeds.

So they're really good volunteers.

That one's maybe just a touch early.

I don't know that I see any that have opened yet.

But so they're going to be harder to identify.

Robin>> The holy basil is the one that is

going to be a really prolific

self-seeding annual in a lot of gardens.

But the Genovese basil is one

that's easier to actually harvest,

save, and harvest the seeds

would you say?

Elise>> I would you say they probably

all are close to the same as far as that.

Robin>> Oh. Ok.

Elise>> It just depends on your climate

and everything as to what's going to perform best.

Holy basil comes from more of a warmer climate,

a little bit more drier.

The Genovese is going to tolerate

a little bit cooler temperatures.

So it just depends on where you are

as to what's going to do best.

Which is kind of a beautiful thing

about how you send out multiple varieties.

Because out of the five,

maybe four rocked it in your garden,

and one did not.

And that's okay.

Robin>> Yeah, that's the idea

of having five different types

of basil in your pack.

Is that some were going to do well

and some aren't.

And it creates that diversity.

So that's a little bit about basil.

And we have to mention the weeds a little bit.

This here is one of my favorite weeds.

And this is....

Elise>> purselane,

Robin>> this was Gandhi's favorite vegetable.

And not only is it wonderful for eating,

but it produces a lot of seeds.

This is one of the few

ones that actually produces a seed

even while the pod is still green.

And it's got all these black

seeds inside of it.

So wow, just in this one seed pod,

there's enough, there's enough seed right here.

There's probably a hundred seeds right there.

Enough to start a small purslane garden.

And you can also eat these seeds.

The whole plant and the seeds.

Elise>> Purslane is the highest

in omega-3 fatty acids out of the plant kingdom.

So it's really good nutritional healthy fats.

Robin>> And there's no purslane in your seed pack.

But they'll probably be purslane in your garden.

So we want to show a little bit of arugula.

I'll just go ahead and harvest this.

Here is sort of the next stage beyond the radish.

This is arugula.

You can see the white flowers on top.

And with this, you can actually see

how the pods have gone from that

smooth to actually being able to see

basically it looks like an outline

of the seeds in the pod.

Elise>> This is probably a week out

from your final stage,

which is when you're going to be saving it from.

So the pods are going to start to bulge,

and then once they turn brown,

you're good to go.

And it's time to start saving seed.

If we save it at this green stage,

the seeds may germinate,

but it's very likely that

none of the seeds are viable at that point.

Robin>> So inside of here,

you can see that the seeds are still green.

You want to wait till those seeds

have gone from green to brown

or to dry, and whatever 
color their final stage is,

brown, black, some are reddish.

So again, this arugula is about a week off

from being brown and ready to harvest.

Elise>> This is the next 
stage that we're looking for,

and this is the perfect seed saving time frame.

The pods are brown, they're brittle,

so they break apart easily if we were to do that.

The whole stem is at that stage.

In the very beginning, you might have,

three or four that started to turn,

but the rest are still green.

So, at this point, I would say

this is perfect seed saving.

You can even tell if you're uncertain.

You can always break open a pod

and check the seed color.

It is a nice, red color, so this is ready to go.

Robin>> The seeds are just falling right out,

just falling right out of the pod.

So, that's looking beautiful.

So, just from a few seed pods of one plant,

there's more, there's more seeds

than you get in your pack,

just from a few pods.

And we're going to show you now

how to process this

and how to save them for next year.

But before doing that, I'm just going to

scatter these out into the garden,

and we'll see if we're having more arugula c

oming back from that.

Probably will.

Elise>> It's just that easy.

Robin>> Here, I have some arugula.

Actually, I gotta be honest,

this is actually Ethiopian kale,

but the seeds are the same.

You work with them the same.

Most of the brassicas are the same.

But from the seed pack,

if you were working with your arugula,

this would be the exact same way.

So, these were drying.

They could be harvested just like this,

or they could have been harvested

and left to dry for a little while.

But you can hear they're nice and crispy.

The seeds are actually 
falling right off into there.

And so, what I'm doing

is I'm just gonna crush up these pods.

I'm just trying to crush up real well

so that I can get these seeds

to pop out of the pods.

And one thing I'll say is

you don't have to get them all.

They're so abundant.

And with some of these self-seeding ones,

you can just take this

and then just wander around the yard

and scatter it around the yard.

So, for now, I'm just gonna do that.

And then at the bottom of this,

you'll see we've got the pods,

which are called chaff,

and then we've got the seeds in there.

So, a shallow bowl is going to be ideal

if you want to be winnowing.

But with this, I can just basically

take the chaff off the top.

Elise>> I kind of think of it like popcorn.

If you want to get the kernels,

and they settle to the bottom,

and it's all mixed together.

So, I always toss the bowl of popcorn.

You can toss the seeds to separate,

the light from the heavy.

Robin>> Yes and shallow trays

are going to be key for that.

So, I've just removed most of the chaff,

and now I'm going to actually

blow this lighter stuff.

There's still a little bit more big stuff.

So, you can see

there's still a little more chaff in there.

That's fine.

You could easily store it 
for a year with that chaff,

but ideally for longer-term storage,

you do want to remove that

because it can hold on to moisture

and there could be insects.

Elise>> Now, they do have

a lot of equipment that you can purchase

for something like this.

You can do screens,

you can have fans,

you can have different sieves

where they sort out the different size seeds.

But for most home-scale or small-scale gardening,

this will do the trick.

You don't have to spend the money on anything.

Robin>> There you go!

Imagine how much seeds you get

from your one little pack of arugula.

Easily, you can be getting this amount of seeds

from one arugula plant or one mustard plant.

So, that one plant

from that one pack.

So, from this one pack,

if you save one or two plants,

you can easily get this amount of seeds.

This really shows the absolute value

in saving some of your seeds

because you can turn your one pack

into like dozens, hundreds of packs

for future years.

Elise>> And for years to come.

This is something that allows you

to maintain this gift of the seed pack

as long as you choose to.

There's no outside resources or inputs needed.

This is something anybody can do and achieve.

Robin>> Now, a lot of people,

when it comes to seed saving,

they worry about getting

the exact same variety for future years,

or cross-pollination, separation.

The good news is, as a beginner seed saver,

you don't have to worry about any of that.

You might get a slightly 
different variety next year,

but you're gonna get dill,

you're gonna get radishes,

you're gonna get turnips,

they're just gonna be a little different.

So, you don't have to worry about that.

The easiest ones to start with,

if you just want to start with the easy ones,

are arugula, mustard, radish, 
turnip, dill, and cilantro.

I would say, out of this pack,

those are the easiest ones.

Elise>> On the other side of things,

carrots are very nearly impossible

for a beginner gardener.

It's totally doable, but for 
all intents and purposes,

I would say just let that one alone

and not bother with that quite yet.

But also, too, the ones 
that can be a little tricky

are lemon balm, oregano, and even kale.

Kale needs some different inputs and cycles,

and it's just not the easiest to save seed

on a beginner level.

So, those are probably the ones

where you might not bother 
focusing this first year.

Maybe reserve a few extra seeds from the pack

for the following year's planting

until you feel a little bit more comfortable

moving forward with them.

As far as storage is concerned,

I already mentioned dry is key,

but aside from that, you want things to be,

in general, cool and dark as well.

So, you don't...

There are fancy ways to do this,

but literally underneath your bed,

on the top shelf of your closets,

somewhere that's naturally going to be dark,

naturally going to be

temperature-controlled in your home.

A garage is not a good place.

They get super hot.

Garden sheds, although it

sort of makes sense in your head,

not a good spot.

And another thing that's really common

is having them in either 
the fridge or the freezer.

And while it is temperature-controlled

and colder does technically extend the shelf life,

it's also an incredibly humid

and moist environment.

So, unless you have those seeds

going into a sealed jar, completely dried,

potentially with some sort of

dehumidifier packs or something like that,

I would not advise that

unless you are sure that that 
container is fully sealed.

Robin>> Yeah,

and all of these are going to store

for a good year just in your house,

like Elise said, in your pantry

or in your dresser drawer.

And most of them will store for a few years,

so there's really no need

to put them into the fridge or the freezer.

That's really more like seed banking,

you know, keeping stuff for the long term.

But for next year and the year after,

it's definitely not needed.

Now, if you want more details on this,

like which ones are the easiest,

how to store them,

some more tips,

the seed saving guide

is going to have all that information for you.

And we are incredibly happy

and excited to be providing these packs to you.

It brings us an incredible amount of joy.

But I think it would bring a lot more joy

if next year, you didn't need us.

If next year, you mostly grew 
from the seeds you saved.

And of course, if you start to exchange seeds

with others in your community,

you start to use the seed libraries, y

ou start to connect with local seed growers,

you use the Facebook group

to exchange seeds with others,

eventually, we would like to not send seeds

in the mail at all anymore

because you all have just become

your own little hubs all over the country.

Anything last you want to say?

Elise>> It's all about building the community

and thinking about the future.

Robin>> Yes, that is really 
the true solution to all this.

The solution is not which plants,

it's not the seeds,

it's the community.

Building your community of people,

but also your community of plant

and animal relatives.

And that means

not just working with the 20 seeds in this pack,

but eventually

Elise>> starting to explore and expand

and try and just experiment

and have fun with it.

And give yourself grace.

Robin>> Yes.

So yeah, start small.

This pack is a great way to start small.

But in years ahead,

you'll be growing maybe even a couple

hundred different plant friends.