Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Seed Saving...

The frosts have set in for the Season here which means my Basil plants are well and truly finished... When my plants shot to flower back in May I cut off these flowers, the seed heads, and hung them in my shed.... So now a month down the track these seed heads are dried and ready to be put to good use....
For those first time seed savers (like I was last year before this lovely lady taught me a thing or two...) lets start at the beginning..... First remove all of the dried seed pods from the dried stalk and put them in the palm of your hand....
Now rub both hands together, this will loosen the seeds from their pods and you'll end up with something like this.....
Now pick all of those delicate little seeds up , each pod contains about 4, and put them in some envelopes (these ones are great, I like to print 4 of them to a page)...
Seal your envelope and you're done, how easy was that???? Make sure you keep your seeds in a cool dry place ready to be sown in the Spring.
I have an old kerosene fridge next to my garden shed that I like to store all of my seeds in, perfect as it keeps them out of the elements... Do you like to save seeds??? I'd love to hear about it if you do.... Sometimes for a little treat I'll also pop a small branch of the seed pods in the envelope too. I'll then put the instructions as to how to harvest the seeds from the pod on the back of the envelope along with growing instructions. This then makes a great gift idea teamed up with a little terracotta pot....

Take Care :)

4 comments:

  1. fantastic.... thanx for the tips and the link!! what a great post I especially love these pix!!

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  2. What a beautiful post....lovely photos and clear explanations. I always have good intentions for seed saving but I hardly ever get to it at the right time. That idea of the gift of a terracotta pot and the envelope is gorgeous.

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  3. What a great tip! I never knew that you could do that.

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  4. What a great idea - thanks for sharing your tips - I have some saved but am yet to get them into the ground - always miss the right time - maybe you can put a reminder on here for me :)

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