Books, Hand-Outs and How-To's
The Library is stocked with excellent resources for the beginning seed saver. A community member donated 2 each of Seed To Seed by Suzanne Ashworth and Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties by Carol Deppe to be checked out to self-educate.
The Parmenter's donated 5 Basic Seed Saving Books by Bill McDorman to check out as well. There will also be a desk copy that can stay put and be used on site.
Still more community members donated 4 printed copies of The Organic Seed Alliance's Seed Saving Booklet - beautifully bound and made available to check out as well.
The Binder at the library has educational material that can be pulled out of the binder and copied at the library.
Until we have our own, we encourage seed savers to watch the Richmond Seed Lending Library's 9 minute orientation to get the general idea of how Seed Library's work. Remember, you will have to filter some differences.
http://www.RichmondGrowsSeeds.org/
The Parmenter's donated 5 Basic Seed Saving Books by Bill McDorman to check out as well. There will also be a desk copy that can stay put and be used on site.
Still more community members donated 4 printed copies of The Organic Seed Alliance's Seed Saving Booklet - beautifully bound and made available to check out as well.
The Binder at the library has educational material that can be pulled out of the binder and copied at the library.
Until we have our own, we encourage seed savers to watch the Richmond Seed Lending Library's 9 minute orientation to get the general idea of how Seed Library's work. Remember, you will have to filter some differences.
http://www.RichmondGrowsSeeds.org/
Save Tomato Seeds
Cut tomatoes through the equator and squeeze the seeds and goo into a jar. If it is only a small amount of seed – add enough water to last at least three days.
We like to cover the jar with a coffee filter and a rubber band for protection against fruit flies and bugs. If bugs do get in – no worries; they will be washed away.
Label the jar and the filter.
Set the jar out of direct light and wait 3 days.
If you think of it – give the jar a stir or a shake every now and then. White mold will form on top of the water and most of the seeds will be at the bottom. After 3 days take off the coffee filter and fill the jar with water – you can stir it too – to break up the seed and pulp.
Set the jar down and let the seed settle. Once again the seed will be at the bottom and the goo will be at the top. Pour the water off the top carefully but stop before any seeds fall out with it.
Repeat this many times until there is nothing in the bottom of the jar but clean seed and water.
We pour the clean seeds and water through a small sieve and then smack the wad of seed onto the labeled coffee filter. We fold the seeds up in the labeled filter and let it dry on a paper plate. You can use a paper towel as well.
You will have a ball or cake of tomato seed when it is dry. The seeds will fall apart easily.
Note: Since we saved so many jars-full and I didn’t want to waste water I caught the tomatoey water in a bucket and poured it on my compost pile.
Also – large scale seed savers should spread the seed out to dry – not cake it up.
*********************
Tomato Growing Tips:
Indeterminate: Vining Tomatoes. They will get tall, or ramble and will continue to flower and bear until the first frost. Viners will need to be staked if you want to grow them vertically.
Determinate: Bush Tomatoes. Bush tomatoes stay small like a bush – usually 3’X3’ or sometimes 2’X 2’ and they put all of their fruit on at once. Some determinates give a smaller second flush of tomatoes.
Semi-Determinate: This has a little of both. The plant will stay smaller but will continue to bear.
At high elevations nights are too cold for tomatoes. We recommend growing tomatoes under cover, a hoop, a greenhouse or coldframe. Be sure to vent them everyday and close them every night. Cold nights trigger a lower yield and prevent ripening.
Tomatoes love Manure, Compost or Compost Tea or Kelp. Any of these will give them a boost.
Healthy living soils will grow healthy, living food.
Mulch plants for steady moisture.
www.westcliffegrows.weebly.com
Cut tomatoes through the equator and squeeze the seeds and goo into a jar. If it is only a small amount of seed – add enough water to last at least three days.
We like to cover the jar with a coffee filter and a rubber band for protection against fruit flies and bugs. If bugs do get in – no worries; they will be washed away.
Label the jar and the filter.
Set the jar out of direct light and wait 3 days.
If you think of it – give the jar a stir or a shake every now and then. White mold will form on top of the water and most of the seeds will be at the bottom. After 3 days take off the coffee filter and fill the jar with water – you can stir it too – to break up the seed and pulp.
Set the jar down and let the seed settle. Once again the seed will be at the bottom and the goo will be at the top. Pour the water off the top carefully but stop before any seeds fall out with it.
Repeat this many times until there is nothing in the bottom of the jar but clean seed and water.
We pour the clean seeds and water through a small sieve and then smack the wad of seed onto the labeled coffee filter. We fold the seeds up in the labeled filter and let it dry on a paper plate. You can use a paper towel as well.
You will have a ball or cake of tomato seed when it is dry. The seeds will fall apart easily.
Note: Since we saved so many jars-full and I didn’t want to waste water I caught the tomatoey water in a bucket and poured it on my compost pile.
Also – large scale seed savers should spread the seed out to dry – not cake it up.
*********************
Tomato Growing Tips:
Indeterminate: Vining Tomatoes. They will get tall, or ramble and will continue to flower and bear until the first frost. Viners will need to be staked if you want to grow them vertically.
Determinate: Bush Tomatoes. Bush tomatoes stay small like a bush – usually 3’X3’ or sometimes 2’X 2’ and they put all of their fruit on at once. Some determinates give a smaller second flush of tomatoes.
Semi-Determinate: This has a little of both. The plant will stay smaller but will continue to bear.
At high elevations nights are too cold for tomatoes. We recommend growing tomatoes under cover, a hoop, a greenhouse or coldframe. Be sure to vent them everyday and close them every night. Cold nights trigger a lower yield and prevent ripening.
Tomatoes love Manure, Compost or Compost Tea or Kelp. Any of these will give them a boost.
Healthy living soils will grow healthy, living food.
Mulch plants for steady moisture.
www.westcliffegrows.weebly.com
 Labeled tomato seeds drying in coffee filters. |  Seed cakes in their envelopes awaiting crushing. |
 Break them up gently in a bowl to catch them all. |  It's a lot of seed... |
Save Bean Seeds:
Pole Beans and Bush Beans on the vine.
Eat Beans
Beans have perfect flowers and self-pollinate. You can plant different varieties next to each other and still get true seed.
After eating what you want, there is always some left hanging - often, they get away from us and a few hang left -past their prime and plump with seeds.
The very first beans on the bottom of a pole bean plant are the best for seed saving. I saved more than that on these plants though - and got a lot in return.The bed is only 4'X8'.
Pole Beans are planted in the middle, and bush beans are planted around the edges.
There are three kinds of Pole Beans, (purple, yellow and green) and three kinds of Bush Beans, (also purple, yellow and green).
Bean and Pea Seeds
Bean and Pea seed in the afternoon sun.
This is what I got from the above bed - and we ate some too.
Peas and Mizuna seed are on the middle plate and the other two are the beans - both pole and bush.
Just let them dry on the vine - when the pods are easy to shatter - they are ready to bring in and clean. Make sure they are thoroughly dry before packing and storing in a dry, cool, dark place.
