Gardening: It’s time to think about saving seeds from favorite vegetables, flowers, Pat Munts says

Whew, the gardening season is winding down. The temperature in Deer Park was 28 degrees Monday morning, according to the Weather Underground app. The vegetable crops are finally getting ripe after being delayed by the hot weather and smoke which reduced light levels. It’s time to think about saving seeds from your favorite vegetables and flowers.

Seed saving is not hard, but there are a few things you need to pay attention to. First, you should have planted true-to-type or open pollinated varieties that will carry the plant’s traits through to the next generation of plants. This is accomplished by allowing the plants to naturally cross-pollinate with each other. Many of these types of seeds are referred to as heirloom seeds. This is opposed to hybridized seeds that have developed through controlled scientific breeding. Hybridized seeds do not pass their bred-in traits to the next generation. This isn’t the same as genetically modifying the seeds in the process known as genetic engineering that manipulates seeds at the gene level. To find out if the seeds you planted are open pollinated, check the seed packet or check online.

Seeds must be ripe to save successfully so leave the fruits on the plant until they are well past the time you would have harvested them to eat or completely dry. Do a little online research to determine the exact timing for your plants as it varies. Once the seeds are harvested they must be separated from the rest of the fruit. Dry beans and flower heads can be gently crushed to separate the seed from the chaff and allowed to air dry for a couple of weeks. Others like tomatoes need to be broken up in water and seeds allowed to soak for a few days to break down the protective coating around the seed. They are then spread on paper towels or newspaper and allowed to dry for several weeks. Dried seeds should be then stored in paper envelopes in a cool, dry, dark place until planting time.

Interestingly, allowing closely related varieties to cross-pollinate can create some weird results that you won’t know about until you plant the seeds next year. For example, if you grew a couple of different types of squash, you might end up with fruits with traits from both the original plants. That’s half the fun of saving seed though.

If you want to learn a little more about seed saving, join Spokane Community Gardens and organic advocate Chrys Ostrander for a short talk and garden tour today at the Grant Park Community Garden. From 5 to 6 p.m. we will tour Spokane’s first community garden in a city park and hear how Ostrander saves heirloom seeds he has grown for decades. The Grant Park Community Garden is in the northeast corner of Grant Park near Grant Elementary School. The tour is part of the monthly tours being offered by the Spokane Community Gardens this summer and is free and open to the public.