Part I: Save Money
I got back late last night from my second job, which requires me to leave town for two or three days on some weekends. So when I woke up this morning I went for a stroll through my garden to see how many new leaves, flowers and seedlings had emerged during my absence, and to enjoy the first morning light and the racket of the birds announcing a brand new day.
Just in time to save the very first ripe tomato of the season from the same birds! There it was, fire engine red, shiny and plump. I couldn't believe the birds hadn't attacked it yet, usually I have to pick everything half green, or I end up with half eaten stuff.
The bush that carries that very first tomato is a ripper. From day one it outpaced all my other seedlings. It's bigger, stronger, and loaded with fruit. Spectacular. This is the bush that I will save seeds from for next year.
Most people I know will go and buy seed packets year after year, for the same boring varieties again and again. It's a shame, as saving seeds of many of our popular vegetables is so easy (more about that in part II). It also has many advantages.
First, you end up with loads of seeds. Having that many means you can be more generous when planting. Sow them direct and thin later. I often just throw them around in a few different areas where I'd like them to grow, and wait what happens. I always end up with more than enough survivors. Much easier and less time consuming then nurturing them in pots or punnets, watering, fretting over very single one, and then transplanting.
Second, you obviously save money. If you grow a lot of things, you save a lot of money. I use that money to try out new weird and wonderful varieties, and made quite some interesting discoveries. (My guess is you will hear about them sooner or later in future posts.) With the rest of the money I buy chocolate.
And third - in my opinion this is by far the most impotant advantage - you will over time breed varieties that are particularly suited to YOUR climate, YOUR soil, YOUR way of gardening. (In my garden that means varieties that thrive on neglect.)
Every seed carries a slightly different set of genes. The pollination of flowers is nature's way to take two lots of genes and shuffle them to create a new set. Just like you display some features of each of your parents, so do plants. And sometimes this new combination proves very useful.
Something in the gene set of my wonder tomato makes it particularly happy to grow in my poor sandy soil. It doesn't seem to mind being trampled by the dog, being subjected to droughts when the irrigation controller dies during my absence, or being blasted by our easterly desert winds.
Whatever genes are responsible for that, my chances of finding them in the next bought standard seed packet are slim. Seed companies select seeds to perform reliably in as big as possible a variety of circumstances. That means they usually won't excel in any.
If you have a plant that excels - flower, herb, or vegetable - keep the seeds. Every seed carries genes from that plant, and although these will again be mixed with the seeds from another individual - the one that provided the pollen - many of the seedlings will excel. Select the best for seeds again, and next year the neighbours will start leaning over the fence, trying to discover what secret concoctions you use to produce such stunning specimen.
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