Saving Seeds

At the end of a growing season, one of the most valuable actions a gardener can take is to collect seeds from spent plants. Saving seeds from existing plants lowers the cost of growing your garden, increases yields, and is a great way to access rare or difficult to find plants.

Last year, at the conclusion of my intensive herbalism course, my classmates and I spent some time collecting seeds from the land. There were specialty plants, rare medicinal plants, and others that I felt a connection with that I wanted to grow in my own garden. As I walked through the land, I snipped seeds heads, pods, dried stalks, and feathery spent flowers with this intention. Some of these plants had names that I had heard before but knew very little about their growing habits. They spent the winter tucked inside a half gallon jar until the spring when I began separating the seeds from chaff. This is a simple process but it is time consuming and requires some patience.

For me, it is bond building and provides an education I would otherwise miss out on completely. I’m able to study the texture and size of each seed, how the plants protects it until maturity, and the method of dispersal. I get acquainted with the appearance and behavior of the plant towards the end of its life and during its dormant period. This is invaluable information for anyone looking to build a relationship with plantlife and intentionally connect with the natural world.

Wildlife, plants, fungi, bacteria, and humans evolve, adapt, and rely on eachother in order to continue their species. When I research a plant, not only do I want to know it’s ideal growing conditions and best care practices but I also want to know its native range and relationship with wildlife, spiritual and medicinal history, and best safety practices. This in-depth study of flora and fauna is the foundation of society as we know it.

Neolithic Revolution

In the Paleolithic period, roughly 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 BC, humans were nomadic hunter-gatherers. Their survival depended on their ability to adapt to rapidly changing environments. There is evidence of early people intentionally modifying flora and fauna with methods like controlled burns and forest gardening, as well as wild grains being collected and eaten from at least 105,000 BC. However, domestication, cultivation, and selection of plants and animals would not occur until approximately 12,000 BC, known as the Neolithic period.

The Neolithic period marks the transition of humans from a hunter-gatherer and nomadic lifestyle into an agricultural and settlement lifestyle. This shift allowed for larger populations and a better understanding of plants and their growth, ultimately leading to domestication. Although foraging provided a greater diversity of available food and, therefore, a higher quality of nutrition, the efficiency of food production and increase in population allowed for humans to invest their time and efforts into other activities and was “ultimately necessary to the rise of modern civilization by creating the foundation for the later process of industrialization and sustained economic growth”.

In areas where cereals and legumes were plentiful and could be stockpiled, societies began to settle into villages. Technologically advanced peoples began settling in open areas and hunter-gatherer societies were pushed into densely forested areas. There were a minimum of 11 distinct regions of the Old World (Asia, Africa, and Europe) and New World (Americas) in which agriculture began independently. A popular theory for the change in human behavior points to climate change following the Ice Age, that brought long dry seasons in which annual plants would die off and leave behind dormant seeds or tubers.

In what we know as the Middle East, “Founder Crops” of agriculture appear after 9500 BC; those are known to be Emmer and Einkorn wheat, barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax. Simultaneously, parthenocarpic (seedless) fig trees were domesticated. Cannabis was in use in China in the Neolithic period, evidence suggests that it may have been domesticated there, and by 2350 BC it was in use for medicine and textiles in Ancient Egypt.

‘The birds and the bees’

Seed plants are separated by scientists into two groups: Angiosperms (plants with flowers) and Gymnosperms (plants with cones). All seed plants contain special structures for male and female cells to join together; this process is fertilization and results in an embryo. The seed protects the embryo and stores food for it to grow. Once the seed is dispersed by the parent plant, it must end up where conditions are favourable in order for it to germinate and grow.

Some plants are monoecious and have both male and female parts on the same plant, although not all monoecious plants self-fertilize. Others are dioecious, meaning the male and female parts are on separate individual plants and one plant of each sex must be present for fertilization to occur.

The flowers of most angiosperms turn into a “fruit” which protects the seeds within. Just as an orange, tomato, or acorn is considered a fruit, grasses as well as trees, shrubs, and ‘flowers’ are flowering plants. Most gymnosperms are trees; their seeds are held in cones on the female plant and, once fully developed, are carried away by the wind or animals.

If a seed lands in an area with suitable conditions, germination will begin. The seed breaks open and the embryo begins to grow. Roots anchor the seedling and take up water and nutrients. A stem develops to move the water and nutrients to all parts of the plant, leaves form on the stem to absorb sunlight and create energy through photosynthesis.

Collecting and Storing

Most gardeners are familiar with the word “deadheading”, this means to trim spent flowers before the plant begins producing seeds. Deadheading is often used to encourage a plant to produce more flowers, focus on storing energy for the following year, or to prevent flowering plants from reseeding themselves.

If you intend on collecting seeds from your plants, you can still deadhead the majority of spent flowers while leaving a few to develop seeds. In my own garden, I will deadhead throughout the flowering season and then leave the blooms as we reach the end; this provides a food source for birds as we move into autumn with plenty of seeds left for me to collect for the following year.

The transformation from flower to seed is intuitive and beautiful but not always attractive. Collecting seeds from some vegetables may involve waiting for the fruit to ripen past the edible stage. Fruit like tomatoes need to be harvested when ripe and then processed to collect the seeds. That may be a deterrent for some but if you consider the overwhelming benefits to local wildlife and your wallet, it might just be worth it. As the blooms fade, keep an eye on seed development; you want to harvest seed heads and pods once they’re completely dry and fully developed.

Once we have collected and separated our seeds, storing them correctly is of the utmost importance. Ensuring that your seeds are completely dried before storing them is top priority; any leftover moisture will result in mold and/or mildew which can be damaging your seeds. Once fully dried and separated, seeds should be kept out of direct sunlight and labeled.

Selecting Cultivars

When our ancestors began to select and domesticate flora and fauna, they chose specimens with desirable traits. For example, once ripe, wild wheat falls to the ground and shatters; this is an adaptation of the plant to better disperse its seeds. For humans, however, this is not desirable so our ancestors bred for wheat that would remain on the stem to allow for harvesting.

Selecting for traits means that we collect seeds from the plants exhibiting the traits we want, use those seeds the following season, and repeat; in doing so, we are breeding plants with the traits that we prefer – color, size, yield, flavor, disease resistance, growing conditions, blooming time, maturity time, pollination and collection method, and so much more.

Sometimes we will find cultivars with desirable traits that have been modified by creating hybrids cultivars. A hybrid is created by using one cultivar that has a set of desirable traits to pollinate a different cultivar with another set of desirable traits. When we collect seeds from a hybrid cultivar, our seeds will not reliably produce the same hybrid cultivar – often, it will produce a plant with a wide range of traits from the parent plants.

Native Plants

Collecting seeds from plants that grow well in our gardens will produce more plants that grow well in our gardens! Native and wild grown plants are so beneficial for local wildlife and your ecosystem. Collecting seeds from native plants is the most efficient since you can rely on natural selection!

“Native plants have tight relationships with wildlife, formed over many thousands of years, providing natural sources of food, cover and places to raise young. Without healthy native plant communities, wildlife cannot survive.” – Nation Wildlife Federation

The National Wildlife Federation suggests our yards to be at least 70% native; this doesn’t just mean flowering plants but includes trees, shrubs, and groundcovers, as well. 96% of terrestrial birds raise their babies exclusively with insects and over 90% of herbivorous insects specialize in one or a select few species of native plants for survival.

Up to 60% of North American’s native bees are pollen specialists who can only feed their young the pollen of native plants, it is essential in successfully reproducing and supporting their population. Additionally, many of these native bees have body shapes and structures that are aligned to the shape and structures of the native plants they rely on. As such, the native plant species, with which these bees have co-evolved, are essential to their survival.

Adding as many Keystone Plants to your landscape is a worthy cause and because these plants have evolved to thrive in your ecosystem, growing native plants require less watering, maintenance, and overall work. Native yards have greater wildlife diversity which leads to less pest pressure.

Now that you know that selecting and collecting seeds is your birthright, I hope you’ll try it out this season. You’ll have all winter to work on separating and storing them, plus you might end up with a smaller order from the seed catalogs.

Just kidding – everyone knows that we’ll just find something new and different to order instead.