Want to experience some real heirloom gardening? Try saving your own seeds.
It might seem like a mysterious process, but saving seeds is easy and fun and will save you a couple bucks next season.
The first thing to do is figure out if the plant you want to save seed from is a hybrid or open-pollinated. Hybrid seed packets are always marked as such. If it doesn't say hybrid somewhere, the plant is open-pollinated.
If it's a hybrid plant, you probably shouldn't save the seed. Often they are sterile, and even if they do germinate, the plants will not grow true. Hybrid seed will revert to one of the weaker parents that were crossed to create that hybrid. If you are willing to experiment, you could plant some of the hybrid seeds and see what happens.
Open-pollinated seeds will usually grow a plant that is just like its parent. I say "usually" because plants sometimes cross-pollinate with each other. You might discover a tasty new bean, or you could stumble onto a really ugly squash/pumpkin mutant best suited for the compost pile.
Don't worry, though, more than 90 percent of the seed I've saved over the years has grown true. I save the good varieties for years to come. One great find was the 'Compost Surprise' tomato. After it popped up one year in the compost pile, I transplanted it into the garden (there's always room for one more, isn't there?). It produced golf ball-sized tomatoes that were wonderfully acidic. They had zing. Sadly, the next year the seed produced bigger, mediocre tomatoes. But 'Compost Surprise' had it's one season of fame in my garden. I'm always on the lookout for a similar tomato.
To save seed from a plant, make sure that the seed is ripe. Tomatoes should be a little soft but not rotten; bean pods should be dry and brown. The swollen beans inside will dry to make next year's seed.
The tomatoes need a little extra work. Squeeze the seeds into a container of water. During the next three or four days, stir the concoction once a day. This ferments the seed, which is necessary to kill seed-borne tomato diseases and remove the seed's gelatinous coating. Lay the seeds out on a paper towel, and dry for a couple days, then store in a jar.
Flowering plants can be tricky. After the bloom fades, inspect the flower. It will dry, and the seeds will be inside. Pull one of the seed heads off and crush it over some paper. If the seed is hard, it's ready.
Storing the seed over the long winter is one of the most important steps. Remember that seeds are alive. Slowing down their respiration by lowering the temperature extends their life. A cool, dry place like the basement is great. Seeds can be put in a paper envelope or little plastic 35mm film holder, then stored in a sealed jar. I like to use canning jars with a screw-on lid and rubber gasket. To ensure the seeds stay dry, I put a little bit of silica gel in each jar. The gel is available at craft stores.
Seeds can last for years in storage, but it's always a good idea to test them before planting outdoors next spring. Take 10 of the seeds and fold them into a moist paper towel. Put the seeded towel into a closeable plastic bag. Place everything in a warm spot where you won't forget it. In a few days, see what's sprouted. If you've got six or seven sprouts or more, the seed is viable and can be used for the coming season. If germination is lower, throw the seed away and buy fresh.
One of the fun things to do when you save your own seeds is trading with others. There are lots of gardeners out there (like me) who enjoy trading open-pollinated seeds. There are hundreds of different types of tomatoes, and I'm determined to keep searching for the weirdest, biggest and tastiest fruits out there.
One Internet seed swapping site run by Country Living Gardener is http://countrylivinggardener.com/clg/conversation/swap/00main1. htm. Of course, we also encourage seed swapping on the Post-Gazette's gardening Web site. Log on at www.post-gazette.com/garden then click on the Garden Forum button. Let us know what you want to grow or what you want to trade.
The definitive book on the subject is "Seed to Seed: Seed Saving techniques for the Vegetable Gardener" by Suzanne Ashworth.
If you have too many tomatoes, squash or other vegetable, you can donate what you can't use to the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank.
There are two convenient drop-off points -- Evey True Value Hardware Store, 5779 Library Road, Bethel Park, where food can be dropped off any day of the week during business hours; and Soergel's Orchards, 2573 Brandt School Road, Franklin Park, where food is taken from 4 to 8 p.m. Mondays through Oct. 25.
If neither of these drop-off points works for you, call your local food pantry, church or soup kitchen and someone should be able to point you in the right direction. If you still can't find a place to donate your produce, as a last resort, call Stacy Mates at the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank at 412-460-3663, Ext. 218.
Douglass Oster can be reached by e-mail at doster@post-gazette.com.
