Going to Seed

We had our annual Seed Saving Workshop here on the weekend.  Our guest facilitator Taarini Chopra from Seeds of Diversity was here to lead the group through all the details to know about saving seeds from the home garden - first of all why to save seeds! Then basic plant botany; distances between varieties to avoid cross-pollination; when to harvest; how to harvest; how to dry (and which seeds dry on the plant); specifically saving lettuce, beans, peas and tomatoes; and lots of interesting hands-on activities like shelling dried beans, and opening soaked fava beans to find the little sprout inside ready to burst out.

There is lots of seed saving information on Seeds of Diversity's website here and below are photos of some of the plants in our garden that have gone to seed - such beautiful and diverse seeds they are (we are very good at letting things go to seed around here - partly unintentional as this time of year is just so busy, and partly intentional as we want to save seeds and let seeds stand for winter food for wildlife.)