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Lesson 11 – Part A: SAVING SEEDS
Lesson 11 – Part B: EASY-TO-SAVE SEEDS
Lesson 11 – Part C: NEW PLANTS FROM CUTTINGS
PREPARATION FOR LESSON 11:
Please read through Lesson 11 text for students. We recommend that you help your students to save at least one variety of seed to sow later so that they can understand the complete cycle of plant growth.
For seed saving, you will need some small sealable envelopes – manilla 'wage packet' envelopes are ideal – these can be obtained from stationers. You will need a container with a close-fitting lid to store your collection of seeds. Large sheets of paper are useful – broadsheet newspaper pages are an excellent size, and some paper towels will be needed for draining rinsed seeds.
You will also need some scraps of brightly-coloured fabric or knitting yarn to use as markers for fruit to be saved for seed. You may also need netting or exclusion bags to protect ripening seed from birds and mice.
Other requirements for collecting individual varieties of seed vary, and these will be listed with the seed variety.
For taking cuttings, you will need a pair of secateurs, some organic-allowed potting mix, and some river sand that has been washed to remove clay particles that can slow drainage and keep the mixture too damp for good root growth. You will also need a collection of small pots that have plenty of drainage holes.
Please follow instructions given on the 'Hazardous' panel on the back of bags of potting and compost mixes. See also Easy Organic Gardening and Moon Planting p 148 regarding precautions to take when opening bags of all gardening products.
Only open-pollinated seeds are suitable for saving. Information on the differences between open-pollinated, hybrid, and GM seeds can be found in Easy Organic Gardening and Moon Planting pp 138-140.
For saving other species of vegetable seed, we recommend The Seed Savers Handbook by Michel and Jude Fanton. This book can be obtained from: http://www.seedsavers.net/seed-savers-handbook-online.
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Watermelon seeds
You will need a medium gauge sieve for rinsing the seeds.
Pea and bean seeds
Further information on saving different species of legume seed and how to harvest seed if rain is predicted can be found in Easy Organic Gardening and Moon Planting pp 406-7.
Tomato and cucumber seeds
Place tomato or cucumber seeds into the jar at the beginning of the school week, as it takes several days for fermentation to occur, and the seeds should not be left unattended to ferment over the weekend.
You will need a knife and a teaspoon. Glass baby food jars are suitable for processing small quantities of tomato and cucumber seeds, and a medium grade sieve* is needed for rinsing seeds. For drying tomato seeds you will need a sheet or two of smooth paper, such as copying paper. *A medium grade sieve is one that is fine enough not to allow tomato seeds to pass through but not fine enough to clog up with jelly residue.
Lettuce Seeds
You will need a garden stake, and a pair of secateurs or clippers to cut cleanly through the flower stalk, so that you won't dislodge ripe seeds. You will also need a medium to coarse grade sieve so that lettuce seeds can pass through it without the fluffy debris. If a lot of debris passes through the sieve, you can use a fine sieve that retains the seeds and allows fine debris to pass through, or you can use a dinner plate or very shallow bowl to clean the seed.
To clean the seed of debris, place seeds onto a dinner plate with a lip, and shake the plate gently sideways until the seeds settle on the bottom of the mixture. Then, show students how to blow gently across the top of the plate to remove any flower remains. Do this over a large sheet of clean paper in case you blow too hard and blow the seeds off the plate, too!
Information on how to treat crisphead lettuce that is slow to form a flower stalk, and what to do if rain is predicted, can be found in Easy Organic Gardening and Moon Planting p 406. For better germination in warm climates, we recommend keeping the envelope of lettuce seeds in a zip-lock bag in the fridge.
Popcorn seeds
You will need a cake cooling rack for drying cobs, plus some yarn or string and a bagging or darning needle for hanging cobs to dry completely. You will also need a large bowl for shucking corn and a clean screw top jar to store corn for popping.
If there has been any sign of insect activity (particularly weevils) around ripening cobs, transfer the shucked kernels to a sealed plastic container and put them into a domestic freezer (for two days only) to kill eggs that may have been laid in the seeds. After freezing, store some in an envelope for next year's crop and keep the rest for popping. Corn seed for sowing can be stored on the cob in a paper bag if your container is large enough.
Sweet corn seeds are saved in the same way, but are not suitable for popping.
Dill and parsley seeds
Cut off the seed heads when seeds have turned brown. Bring them indoors and allow to dry for a week or two on a sheet of paper.
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This lesson only provides instructions for the easiest plants to grow from cuttings. Further information on propagating plants by division, different types of cuttings and layering, can be found in Easy Organic Gardening and Moon Planting pp 394-404.
Semi-hardwood cuttings
The plants listed in this section prefer good air circulation and should not be covered with a plastic bag to increase humidity. Bush honey and organic-allowed seaweed products contain natural growth stimulants, and can assist in root formation. You can dip only the bases of cuttings in raw honey or organic seaweed tea before placing them in the pot, or water the pots with half strength seaweed tea after filling them with cutting mix.
If growth of cuttings seems slow, water the pots with half strength organic-allowed liquid fertiliser as often as directed on the container.
Marguerite, mints and watercress cuttings
You will need a clean glass or medium-sized jar, a small piece of brown paper and a strong elastic band. Don't use honey or seaweed tea for this method, and don't allow roots to grow too long in the jars as these roots are more delicate than roots that form in soil and longer roots tend to become tangled or snap off when potting is attempted.
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