Why are Locally Harvested Seeds Great?

 

Hello Gardeners

A BIG thank you to all who came to the last seed packaging on Wednesday and to those of you who have packaged seeds at home! I added 256 seed packages to the seed library today! During the month of February I added over 600 packages! Lots of new annual flowers, herbs and vegetables were added. I still have many bean seeds left to package, but the majority of all other types of seeds are now in the seed library. I maintain online lists of seeds in the seed library, usually only updating the list once a month.

You can find the links to the lists on the website WBL Seed Library website. The lists are on the right hand side.

Or here are the links:

Vegetables and herbs

Flowers

Native Plants

 

Locally Harvested Seeds

Many of the seeds, especially native plant seeds, are labelled ‘locally harvested’ or ‘locally grown’. These are great seeds as these seeds are more acclimated to our environment. Commercial seeds could have come from anywhere in the United States. For example; plants grown in Texas have significantly different growing conditions than plants grown in Minnesota.  So you can understand why I encourage you to save seeds from the plants you grow. There is a caveat though. I only want seeds that are ‘easy to save’. What does that mean?

It doesn’t mean the seeds are easy to remove from the fruit or seed head of the plant. It means seeds from the plant are less likely to have been cross-pollinated and therefore the seeds from the plant will likely have the same traits (color of flower, hardiness, height, etc.) as the original plant.  Easy to save seeds are those that are either self-pollinating or do not cross-pollinate easily. This includes; tomatoes, beans, peas, lettuce and native plants. As long as the original plant of these types was not a hybrid variety, the seeds from them will be great to save.

Bring any seeds (open-pollinated) you harvested to donate to the seed library! I’d love to get some tomatoes, lettuce, beans and peas you grew in your garden!

Also, those of you who grew haricot vert beans for the Grow a Row project, please donate them now.

 

How Does This Weird Winter Affect My Plants?

This is a valid concern as this winter’s weather has been very different than normal. The University of MN Extension service has an answer. Check it out here.

 

Stratifying Native Plant Seeds

 

Just a note about native plant seeds—Most native plant seeds need a period of stratification before they will germinate. Stratification is a period of cold, moist conditions that breaks the dormancy of native plant seeds. In nature this is called ‘winter’!

Here’s a brief description:

You can help get your native seeds a head start by doing one of the following right now:

1. Direct sow the seeds outside in a prepared bed. They should germinate next spring.

2. Use the winter sowing method to create a little like greenhouse for the seeds. Basically you cut a plastic jug in half, leaving a small part uncut as a hinge. Poke holes in the top, bottom and sides. Remove the bottle cap. Add potting soil and seeds. Water. Tape the top shut and write on the outside the type of seeds. Place OUTSIDE now in a sheltered area that will get sun, snow and rain. Early next spring you should see seedlings growing that you can transplant to your garden.

 

Right now, the best way to stratify seeds is below:

 

3. You can stratify seeds inside your refrigerator by placing damp sand and the seeds in a plastic zip lock bag and place the bag in the refrigerator for the number of days necessary to stratify. Remove the bag after the length of time and place the sand and seeds on a tray with potting soil. Place the tray under lights and water as needed. Soon you will have seedlings you can harden off outside and plant in your garden.

The seed packets in the seed library are labelled with the number of days needed for stratification or you can find this information online as well.

 

Plant Sales:

Friends School Plant Sale – May 10, 11, 12, 2024 at the State fair grounds.

They have over 2,100 varieties of plants (vegetables, herbs, flowers, fruit, trees, perennials, etc.) all grown neonics free. Neonicotinoids. are systemic insecticides that harm pollinators. See info about this here. .

 

Anoka County Master Gardener sale – May 14, 15, 2024.

More information here.

 

Ramsey County Master Gardener sale – May 18, 2024

More information here.

 

Pam

 

 

Contact info for the Seed Library:

Email: wblseedlibrary@gmail.com

Blog site: WBL Seed Library