I'm interested in having an organic garden next year and saving my own seeds. Does anyone do this? Is there anything I need to do to the seeds before putting them in a container to store them?
I'm interested in having an organic garden next year and saving my own seeds. Does anyone do this? Is there anything I need to do to the seeds before putting them in a container to store them?
I had a neighbor who told me to put seeds in the freezer. I never tried it as that doesn't make any sense to me, but she saves seeds from year to year and freezes them over the winter and her garden actually grows every summer. I thought freezing them would damage them, but it works for her.
If unharvested and left on their own, seeds of all kinds survive through the winter, so freezing is unlikely to hurt any seeds, and in some cases is even necessary to get them to germinate or sprout. Many years ago, I bought some fireweed seeds in Alaska and the instructions on the package said to freeze and thaw them 3 times before planting. And while I never tried it, I had a farmer tell me for the best sweet corn crop, put the seed in ice trays and freeze them, then plant the ice cubes so you have the seed and water to start with.
Bird, that's such a clever idea. I never would have thought of freezing the seed in ice trays and then planting the whole ice cube! I do wonder though if that's just an old wives' tale or if it really did produce a better tasting corn.
Some seeds need to be frozen, others soaked, others scratched up for best germination. Do some google searches and you'll find what works best. We save seeds from heirloom tomato plants and there is a routine to it that really makes a difference. It's not much work but it is worth it for sure.
We store ours in either jars or paper bags. Moisture is the enemy while in storage.
They save seeds at major seed banks using cryogenics.
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