A seed is an amazing thing. It is a tiny package suspended between the future and the past. Containing all the genetic information that is needed to make a new plant, with specific instructions to sprout only when the conditions are right for survival, it also contains a unique history that stretches back through time into mankind's earliest gardens, and before that into wild nature itself. Each seed we plant is the product of ten thousand years of human selection, and millions of years of natural selection.

Seeds are the foundation of our food supply and the source of most plant life on earth.

Starting plants from seed is a very rewarding activity--even if it's just a few flowers in a pot on your back step, or a tub of salad lettuces on the porch. Watching the seed sprout and grow into a plant is one of life's wonders. Purchasing seed is less expensive than purchasing seedlings and much more economical for your pocketbook and the Earth than store-bought produce and flowers. There are more varieties to choose from, you can grow higher-quality plants, and you will enjoy the simple satisfaction of growing your own plants from the moment of germination through the harvest of their gifts.

Endangered seeds

The diversity and sustainability of our food supply is now seriously threatened by the almost exclusive use of new patented seed varieties. Today we use fewer than three percent of the vegetable varieties that were used in 1900.

At the turn of the 20th century, new biological discoveries allowed scientists to make deliberate crosses between two varieties of the same species. Instead of allowing the plants to cross-pollinate with each other as they would in a garden, hybridizers hand-pollinate each flower with pollen from the same plant. This inbreeding is repeated for as many as ten or twelve generations until they are genetically uniform.

When you plant hybrid seed in a garden, it produces the identical plants expected in our consumer world. But they don't reproduce correctly. Seeds from hybrid plants often don't sprout at all, and when they do, they frequently sprout as one of their ancestors, not as the hybrid variety. I'm smiling as I write this, envisioning Mother Nature winning out in the end.

Hybrid seed is bred for the consumer market. Seed companies want you to buy new seed every year and be dependent on agribusiness. With hybrid seed, farmers and gardeners are not able to grow food without cash for seed, and cannot grow food within Nature's own cycles. This makes our food supply vulnerable to corporate decisions and world economics and increases the cost of growing food.

Ninety-nine percent of the seeds used today by agribusiness, organic farmers, and home gardeners are hybrids. These are usually bred for "commercial" values such as yield, long shelf life (thicker skin), and uniformity of harvest time, size, and looks--everything but the most important values to consumers: nutrition and taste.

In addition to their inferior quality, many of these seeds are coated with fungicides that are so toxic that the yearly leftover packaged seeds cannot be burned because the emissions will not pass EPA requirements. Such seeds should not be handled by children (though you won't see this warning on the label).

We don't need new varieties of plants to enable multinational corporations to feed our population. For sustainability, we need to grow plants with their natural abilities to reproduce, and collect and distribute far and wide the seed of the incredibly abundant variety of plants already available. For sustainability, we need fertile seed to be grown, harvested, and grown again and again in backyard and community gardens and by local small family farms.

Organically-grown "open-pollinated" seed for "heirloom" varieties

Over billions of years, nature evolved plant types that were ideally suited to the various climates and soil conditions around the world. In the last ten thousand years, farmers have been selecting those varieties that produce the hardiest plants and best foods for local growing conditions, and carefully saving the finest specimens for seed stock.

Throughout this natural selection, all the plants were naturally "open-pollinated"--that is, pollinated "randomly" by Nature's processes--and each was slightly different, having its own unique combination of genes.

When you plant open-pollinated seed in your garden, collect and save the seed from the best specimens, and then replant the next year, the plants adapt to local growing conditions and create new varieties. Nature will actually design the best plant for your place. Farmers and gardeners can sustain our food supply using Nature's reproductive system, and never, or rarely, buy seed. This keeps our food supply more secure and sustainable and reduces the cost of growing food.

Growing open-pollinated seed allows you the pleasure of eating "heirloom" varieties of fruits and vegetables not available at your supermarket. Instead of being limited to the cardboard taste of under-ripe supermarket tomatoes, for example, you can choose from tomatoes that are big, small, red, orange, yellow, purple, green, or striped, and luscious right from the vine. These are the natural varieties of these plants, which are often more nutritious, tastier, hardier, more disease resistant, and need less water and other resources to grow. Many of our heirloom varieties have been passed down within families for generations. Most have developed a natural resistance to local diseases and pest, making them ideal for organic gardens.

Open-pollinated seed also has the advantage of being collected from healthy, organically grown plants, and so they result in healthier plants, and there are no toxic chemicals going into the environment from their production.

Look for open-pollinated seeds at a good local nursery, or order online. A growing number of small seed companies and seed saving organizations are engaged in preserving and sharing these seeds. And join a local garden club--older gardeners in your own family and community may have heirlooms of their own to pass along.

By using open-pollinated seeds in your garden, you can help the dedicated groups and seed companies that are working to keep alive our rich heritage of seeds. Unlike hybrid seeds, seeds from plants grown from open-pollinated seed can be saved and used from year to year.

Using open-pollinated seeds helps preserve one of our most precious resources--a diverse supply of food, fiber, and medicinal plants.

Plan before planting

Part of the fun of planting from seed is spending the winter browsing through seed catalogs and imagining where to plant all those beautiful flowers and luscious-looking vegetables and fruits.

If you are starting seed for the first time, begin with seeds that are quick to germinate and that don't require a lot of extra fussing, such as radishes or lettuce. Just choose two or three varieties while you learn the basics. Then you can expand your selections as your skill increases.

There are only a few basics regarding choosing and planting seeds.

* Choose seed that will grow in your climate zone. Most gardening websites have climate zone maps you can look at if you don't already know your zone. There's no use trying to grow seeds in Florida that are best suited for the climate in Alaska!

* Most garden vegetables and flowers are classified as either "warm season" or "cool season plants". Seeds of cool season plants can germinate when the soil is still cool and need to get most of their growing in before it gets too hot. Warm season flowers and vegetables need long hours of sun and temperate night temperatures to keep the soil warm enough for them to germinate and grow strong.

* Seeds need warmth to germinate, so it is important to know when the soil is warm enough to plant (you can purchase a soil thermometer at most nurseries). Most planting instructions are given relative to the average date of the last spring frost. You can find out the date in your area from neighboring gardeners or local weather data. Mark the last frost date on your calendar, then look on the back of the seed packet for planting instructions. Mark seed sowing dates on your calendar so you'll be ready with everything you need and time allotted when the day comes. It really helps to have a plan, rather than trying to figure it out as days are passing by. Missing your seed-sowing opportunities can result in needing to wait until next year for successful sowing.

* Decide if you need to start the seed indoors or if you will sow it directly in the garden. Some vegetables, flowers, and herbs--such as carrots and beets--must be planted directly in the garden soil, others will benefit from getting a jump on growing season by pre-germinating the seeds indoors a few weeks before it's time to set them outdoors. Many fruiting plants and flowers won't grow and flower or bear fruit in our American climate zones unless they are given this head start indoors because our summers aren't long enough (of course, this isn't a problem if you choose types and varieties suited to your area).

* Determine when you need to plant. Seeds sprout and plants grow at different rates, so check the back of the seed packet to find the recommended planting time. Some seeds need to be started 12 weeks before they are transplanted into the garden while others need only three or four weeks. Mark your seed-sowing days, counting back from the date you plan to set out the transplants.

Remember to check the seed packet for instructions, and follow them for best results.

The effects of different types of water on the sprouting of seeds

I read a claim that seeds would not sprout in water that had been heated in a microwave oven. My husband and I were curious about this and decided to try it ourselves. We replicated the results--the water we heated in a microwave oven would not sprout seeds.

What was surprising to us was seeds would not sprout in our city tap water, either, but grew vigorously in water we had filtered to remove chloramines and fluoride and conditioned to restructure the water to have the molecular structure of natural water.

> my experiment sprouting seeds in five types of water

Saving seeds

The art of saving seed has been practiced by gardeners since there were gardeners. Most of the improved vegetable and flower species we enjoy today are the result of gardeners saving the seed of their best plants and sowing them year after year.

If you would like to save seed, here are the basics for getting started.

Save seed only from open-pollinated, non-hybrid plants. Hybrids result from a deliberate cross between two inbred lines, so the seed saved from a hybrid is likely to revert back to characteristics of previous generations. Only the person who controls the original parent plants can produce the hybrid seed. Check the packages and catalog entries to see if it says "F1 hybrid." F2 plants are not hybrids and can be saved.

Save seed only from annual plants. Perennials are usually propagated through division or cuttings.

The easiest vegetables to save seed from are self-pollinating varieties. There are three types of pollination: air-borne, insect-borne, and self-pollinating.

How Vegetables Are Pollinated
Air-borne pollen vegetables	insect-borne pollen vegetables		Self-pollinated vegetables
Beets Corn Spinach Swiss chard	Asparagus Broccoli Brussels sprouts Cabbage Carrots Cauliflower Celeriac Celery Chinese cabbage Collards Cucumber Eggplant Kale	Kohlrabi Melons Mustard Onions Parsley Parsnips Peppers Pumpkin Squash Radishes Rutabaga Turnips	Beans Chicory Endive Lettuce Peas Tomatoes

Choose the best plants for saving seed. If you are careful in choosing the seed that you save from your garden, you can not only multiply your garden plants, you can improve and refine them. Consider the whole plant in making your selection, rather than an individual exceptional fruit or flower. Look for characteristics such as flavor, aroma, yield, vigor, color, size, disease and insect resistance, early bearing, late bolting, texture, tenderness, juiciness, stature, suitability for purpose, and weather tolerance.

Mark plants selected for seed production so you don't accidentally eat your prime seed producers for dinner! Use something—such as a stake or brightly-colored tie—that is obvious to others who may also be working in your garden.

Allow seed to mature before you gather it. Gather seed when it is well ripened, but before it drops to the ground or is blown away by the wind.

Separate the seed from the pulp by washing, shell seeds from their pods, or shake seed through a screen of hardware cloth to sift out chaff.

Dry seed thoroughly before you store it. Excess moisture in the seed will lower its ability to germinate. It is important to dry all seed before you store it. The best method is to spread the seed in the sun for a day or two.

Store your seed where it will remain cool, dry, and dark. Place seed in an airtight container at a temperature between 35 and 50 degrees F, in a dry, dark place. Use small glass jars or paper envelopes placed in an airtight container (peas and beans store better in breathable bags). To control moisture, use silica gel packets (available at camera stores) or dry milk powder wrapped in a tissue, secured with a rubber band. Once the seed has been stored, avoid opening the container until you are ready to plant; moisture will condense inside the cold jar and dampen the seeds. Properly stored seed will retain its viability for different lengths of time depending on the type of seed--many types remain viable for 2-3 years.

Seed germinates best the following year. After that, its germination percentage declines depending on the storage conditions, seed type and original seed quality. It is best to replant every year and then select the best plants for seed.

Label each container. Include the variety, the date, and any other pertinent information.

Keep good records. Include the kind and number of plants from which you gathered seed, and other data such as the exceptional characteristics that made you choose parent plants.

There are many resources on the internet for seed savers. It's fun to save and share seeds with other gardeners.

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