Seed Saving

  By simply letting even a few plants go to seed, you can save yourself the trouble and expense of getting seeds from somewhere else. They're not only the most inexpensive way to ship food, they're also the most inexpensive way to store it.



  Seeds tend to come in two varieties; those which prefer fermentation, such as pumpkin or tomato, and those which do not, such as... most other seeds.

  For the latter, it is a simple exercise in food drying, without the heat, and one has a full jar of seeds ready for replanting and sprouting.

  For the former, one common method is to soak in a bucket of water with a few of the chunkies of the original fruit or gourd, which is almost automatic - a few pumpkin-innard strings or the growth-inhibiting gel from tomato seeds - for a few days. Other techniques involve filling a bowl with tomato seeds, adding a very small amount of water, and covering it with a piece of bread until it molds.

  Once they've been through fermentation, the process is the same. Clean them off well, and dry them without heat.

  Plants which drop seed from flower, rather than from fruit, can have their seeds collected by being pulled and hung upside down when the seed capsule is almost ready to fruit, a bag tied over the former flower head, and the roots taken care of hydroponically by gentle misting.

  Saving the seeds, and growing a few of the plants for seed, will ensure you limitless harvests long into the future.


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