Hello
Gardeners!
I’ve
had many new people order seeds from the White Bear Lake Seed Library and
thought a FAQ was due. Even if you have been using the seed library for a
while, you might find this info useful. There are specific changes due to
Covid-19 which I’m sure you are getting tired of hearing about, but like most
business it affects the seed library too. At the end is information about how
to get neonic free plants and the status of various plant sales in the area.
What is the White
Bear Lake Seed Library?
It
is a repository of free open-pollinated seeds available for community members
to grow, enjoy and save seeds for future seasons. It is located in the White Bear Lake library,
2150 2nd St, White Bear Lake, MN 55110. When the White Bear Lake library is
open, the seed catalogs and drawers containing the seeds will be on the right
after you go through the doors.
What seeds are in the
seed library?
There
are vegetable, herb, flower and native plant seeds in the seed library. All the
seeds are open-pollinated, non-hybrid seeds.
There are some organic seeds as well. The varieties and amounts vary
depending on what seeds are donated.
There
are two binders at the seed library table that contain pictures and growing
information on every plant we carry in the seed library. You can use your phone
to take a photo of the page so you can reference the information at a later
date. Since the library is closed, there are lists of seeds available on the
blog site. Unfortunately, these lists do not have photos or detailed
information as normally this wasn’t needed. I do update the lists regularly.
Where is the blog
site?
How do I get seeds?
When
the library is open, you can peruse the seed catalog binders, select your seeds
from the seed drawers, fill out a membership form and return that form to a
librarian at the main desk.
For now, you make a
list of specific seeds you want, email it to me, wait for a confirmation email,
and then show up at the next pickup date. I really do need the specific variety
of a plant, not just say ‘tomato’ because I am not very good at making guesses
at what you want.
The next seed pickup on Thursday April 30 from 4:30-5:30
pm at the White Bear Lake library’s parking lot. To pick up seeds on this date
you must email me your order by noon Thursday April 30, (wblseedlibrary@gmail.com). You can read the
details at the blog site WBL blog site.
I plan to have seed
pickups about once a week throughout May or until there is no more interest. I
rotate the day of the week and the time to allow more people to participate.
How do I donate seeds?
The seed library
depends on donated seeds as we are not funded. When the WBL library is open you
can donate seeds in the bin at the seed library table. Until then save seeds
you want to donate in your refrigerator.
We encourage all
members to learn basic seed saving techniques, but ask that beginning seed
savers only collect seeds from ‘Easy to Save’ plants (tomatoes, beans, peas,
lettuce, and native plants). If you are unable save your own seed, please
donate a packet or two of fresh, commercially grown, open-pollinated,
non-hybrid seed to help keep our library stocked.
If you are certain
your plant was not cross-pollinated, then learn when the best time is to
harvest the seeds. Try here for help or ask me.
Allow the seeds to fully dry, package them in a paper envelope with the common
name of the plant, scientific name of the plant if known, the year, the
location, your name, isolation distance and whether you practice organic
gardening techniques (i.e. no pesticides, etc.). Drop them off in the bin at
the seed library.
What seeds should I save?
A seeds is a seed is
a seed. What difference does it make what seeds I save?
Bear with me as I
explain a little science.
Open-Pollinated and Self-pollinated – Open-pollinated
plants are pollinated by wind, insects, or gardeners to set fruit and make
seeds. Self-pollinated plants do not need wind, insects or gardeners to
pollinate their flowers as they have what is called ‘perfect’ flowers. ‘Perfect’
flowers contain both the stigma and pollen on the same flower and sometimes are
pollinated just by the act of the flower opening. Frequently the term open-pollinated refers to
both self and open pollinated plants.
Open-pollinated
plants have stable genetics and come true from seed. This means that if you
have a 'Big Orange’ squash plant, and you've ensured that there was no
cross-pollination with other plants in your garden or pollen from your neighbor
didn’t sneak in; the resulting seeds
that you save from the crop you grow this year will produce 'Big Orange' squash
plants, and not something else.
Cross-pollination can
occur with both self and open pollinated plants, but only with plants in the
same family. For example, if a bee visits a tomato plant flower then goes to a
squash plant flower, you will not get ‘tomquash’ or a ‘squatom’ seeds from the
fruit. But if your roaming bee visits a summer squash and then checks out an
acorn squash those fruit may very well produce seeds that grow a strange fruit
(which may or may not be edible) that you could call a ‘sumacorn’ or maybe a
‘acornmer’. Or perhaps those seeds will not set any fruit at all (sterile).
Self-pollinated
plants are what we consider ‘easy’ to save seeds as the chance of
cross-pollination is small. True open-pollinated plants are what we consider
‘medium’ or ‘difficult’ to save seeds because you need to make sure the plants
are not cross-pollinated with other varieties.
Seed packets may say
‘open-pollinated’ or ‘OP’ or nothing at all on the seed packet. If nothing is
specified, this is where you have to do a bit of sleuthing to find out whether
a particular variety is open pollinated or hybrid. The internet is a wonderful
resource for this.
Heirloom – are simply open-pollinated varieties that
have been around for many years, usually at least 50 years or more. Think of
them as the old standbys that usually produce consistent fruit every time you
plant those seeds. Usually, seed packets will have the word ‘heirloom’ on the
packet.
Hybrid – A hybrid plant is one that is bred from
two different types of plants and is a result of a controlled breeding process.
This is developed through a series of crosses where the parent plants impart
the offspring with desirable traits. This process can be very involved and take
many years. The result can be plants that have higher yields or are more
resistant to disease. But the drawback to these plants from a seed saving
perspective is that the genetics of hybrids is unstable and the seeds from
these plants do not usually breed true.
We do not have hybrid
seeds in our seed library. They will grow great plants and produce, but please
do not donate the seeds from these plants. Seed packets may say ‘hybrid’ or
‘F1’ or not specify anything if they are hybrid seeds. Again, if nothing is
specified, this is where you have to do a bit of sleuthing.
GMO – stands for Genetically Modified Organism. GMOs should
not be confused with hybrid plants. GMOs have their genetic traits modified in
a laboratory where specific genes are either added or deleted from a plant’s
DNA. This is a very expensive process and at this time only commercial crops
such as corn, soybeans, sugar beets and cotton are modified. At this time there
are no GMO seeds available for
gardeners. So though a seed company or a
seed packet may say not GMO, right now it doesn’t really mean much as all
packets of seeds available to us common folk are not GMOs.
So in summary, the Seed Library wants open-pollinated,
heirloom or self-pollinated seeds that have not been cross-pollinated with
another variety. Seeds from tomatoes, beans, peas, lettuce and native plants
are what we call ‘easy’ to save seeds.
‘Difficult to Save’ seeds require special planning to preserve the
purity of the variety. These plants are easily cross-pollinated and you must
maintain isolation distances between plants to ensure they will produce seeds
true to type. There are also many plants that either don’t set seeds in a
typical Minnesota growing season (i.e. rosemary) or need two years to produce
seeds (i.e. carrots, parsnips).
There are many types
of vegetables and flowers that are open-pollinated, but are easy to be cross-pollinated.
For example, all melons are in the Cucurbita family, so squash, pumpkins,
melons, and zucchini will cross with each other. Isolate by 800 ft – ½ mile. Also, anything in
the Brassica family – broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbages, cauliflower, kale,
collards, and turnips all cross within each other and are insect pollinated.
Separate by 800 ft – ½ mile. Corn is pollinated by wind and must be at least ½
mile away from any other corn. Onions are insect pollinated so separate by
about a mile. Even some flowers will cross-pollinate with vegetables as carrots
will cross-pollinated with Queen Ann’s lace flowers.
What are the isolation distances for plants to prevent
cross-pollination?
Can I save the seeds from produce I buy at the grocery
store or farmer’s market?
More than likely the
produce at the store is a hybrid. Large growers usually prefer hybrid varieties
as they are more consistent, travel well and many times are more resistant to
certain viruses and fungi. Unless you know for sure the produce you buy is an
heirloom variety, do not save these seeds.
How long do seeds last?
It is a highly
variable length of time because how
the seed is stored is usually more important than how long the seed is stored. A great location to save seeds is your
refrigerator in a sealed container. I
use a plastic container to save my paper envelopes of seeds in my refrigerator.
A bad location is in a car during the summer.
Some seeds last only
a year, such as onions or parsnips. Some seeds can last up to 5 years such as radish
and melons. See seed life chart or seed viability chart for a handy list. If
you donate seeds that are older than these guidelines I cannot use them for the
seed library as it does not benefit the people who take these old seeds. They
may get only a few seeds to germinate or none at all. Seed libraries do not do
germination rate testing, so please only donate fresh seeds to the seed
library.
How can I tell if a plant is open-pollinated or a hybrid?
The only way to tell
is either look it up online or if you’re lucky it will say on the seed packet.
If it says ‘hybrid’, or ‘F1’ then it is for certain a hybrid. If it says ‘heirloom’ or ‘open-pollinated’ it
for certain is open-pollinated.
Do you ever have classes about gardening?
I give Seed Talks
once a month on the second Tuesday evening from 6:30-8 pm at the White Bear
Lake library. The Seed Talk is a community discussion on a particular topic
related to gardening. They are on pause for now, but please feel free to email
me with any questions.
Where can I find neonic free plants?
Many of you bought
plants at the Friends School Plant sale over Mother’s Day weekend, but this
year it is canceled (you know why). Or you bought native plants at the
Landscape Revival during the first two weekends of June, but it is postponed or
rescheduled (same reasons why). Both these events provided neonic free plants.
But you can find other growers in the Twin Cities area that sell neonic free
plants. Check the Friends School webpage for a list.
What do you mean by neonic free plants?
Neonicotinoids or
neonics are a class of systemic pesticides that have been proven to be
detrimental to pollinators. The Friends
School Plant sale has a good write up on this. At the end of their
article is a list of other excellent places to find information on pollinators
and neonics.
I have more questions?
Who sent me this email?
I confess it’s me,
Pam Larson Frink. I am the head organizer or you could say Seed Librarian for
the WBL Seed Library. This is a volunteer position and I am not the only
volunteer as there are several seed packaging events throughout the year where
many volunteers help package seeds. (Though right now the only person seed
packaging is me.)
Happy Planting!
Pam
Contact info for the
Seed Library:
Email:
wblseedlibrary@gmail.com
Blog
site: WBL Seed Library
