Gardening: Treasure transformed in soil

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Look at a seed. Any seed will do. A closer look at pulpy tomato seed in your sandwich, grains in bread, or maybe the baked beans in your Sunday brunch. All of these seeds had the ability to produce a whole new plant.

Modern living gives us the luxury not to think too much about the origins of our food and how it gets to our plate. Not that long ago that seed was treasured as a precious gift passed from one generation to the next.

People knew their lives depended on saving seeds. These seeds were carefully selected from the best plants, dried, then stored correctly and saved for the following year. Farmers and gardeners would select seeds from plants that best suited local conditions, those that resisted disease, had desirable characteristics, such as the best flavour, or could be stored for longer. In this way over many hundreds of years we produced crops that were tastier and better-performing than their wild ancestors.

So what are we doing about saving seeds in the 21st century?

Food production has been industrialised over the past 100 years as small farms have given way to huge agribusiness conglomerates. Seed production has become a fiercely protected corporate commodity.

And don't get me started on the advent of genetic engineering.

Many heritage plants have been lost, and those that remain are being protected by a few passionate groups who understand the importance of protecting our seed heritage for genetic diversity and food security.

But seed can only be protected if gardeners continue to grow them.

If we grow only from modern hybrid seeds, we will slowly lose our gardening and food heritage, one bite at a time.

Top tips for saving seeds

Know your plant before you save seeds
Many modern plants and seeds are hybrids, meaning seeds saved from those plants will not be the same as the parent. Choose "open pollinated" or "heirloom" seeds, which will be more true to its parent.

Some plants, such as tomatoes and beans are "self-pollinators", so are the safest for beginners to collect seed from, but they can cross-pollinate with other varieties nearby with the help of bees. Many plant species are wind or insect pollinated, so will cross with others planted a long distance away.

Find out the best time to harvest seed
Tomato seed is mature at the precise time the fruit is also best to eat, having ripened on the plant. But other fruit, such as eggplant, should be left on the plant until almost rotten. Pods such as beans and peas should be left to wither to a crispy brown, and the seeds will be nice and hard inside and perfect for collecting. Harvest dried seed on a dry day.

Saving from heirlooms
If you are saving heirloom plants, save seeds from a number of plants (not just the best performer) to ensure enough genetic variation to keep the plant viable into the future. If you are saving for other reasons, such as seeds well adapted to your location, then select from your best-performing plants.

Seed preparation
Some seeds are pulpy. This can be washed off through a sieve, but pulpy seeds from tomato should be left to ferment in a jar with a little water for a few days, then sieved and washed. This process helps destroy any seed-borne pathogens for a healthy crop next season.

Of course, it is always best to select seeds from disease-free plants.

Storage
Most vege seeds need to be completely dry before storage, some species prefer to be kept slightly moist. Some will tolerate longer storage than others. Label seeds correctly, date then store in an airtight, waterproof container in a cool, dry, dark spot or in the fridge. Frequent temperature variations and moulds will spoil saved seeds. To kill tiny insects sometimes in seeds, store completely dry in the freezer in an airtight container. Sprinkling diatomaceous earth on seeds will also prevent insect damage.

Resources

• A must-read for trouble-free seedsaving is

howtosaveseeds.com

.

• Join a group for seed swapping and tips: ooooby.ning.com/group/newzealandseedandplantexchange.

• Support NZ heritage seedsaving: koanga.org.nz.