Seed Saving

These are the last of my beans for the season. I left them on the vine to fully mature and ready for next season’s planting, pulling them before our first full set of rains and well after my last beans were picked for eating. Yum. The pole beans were definitely the best eating beans, no matter how much I love scarlet runner beans for their flower and urban hip qualities (hummingbird friendly, edible, fashionable vertical qualities, etc…).

Sometimes the tried and true varieties are still the best. Like Grandma’s chocolate chip cookie recipe, you can’t go wrong. I like to mix it up, but in the end, it’s nice to have an old reliable.

So, why pay money to buy new seed? If you’ve grown something wonderful, why let it go only to have to buy more of the same the following season?

Annuals are just that, annual. When growing an annual be prepared to harvest the fruit or veg as well as seed for the next rotation. Tell yourself it’s easy even if you’re not sure when to do – the plant will show you.

If you’re like a me, a bit of a procrastinator, you might not get to all the things you plan to when you plan to. This is sometimes perfect because this little bit of extra time could be the gift you needed to understand the full life cycle of whatever it is you’re growing.  Tomatoes, squash, cilantro, lettuces… you name it.

Watch and grow. Grow and watch. We’re lucky it’s not rocket science.

Shoot or pass the pistil.