Seed Library Fall: Seed Saving

When you save seeds, you’re actually acting as a plant breeder--usually with the goal of maintaining a plant’s existing characteristics.  If you want a sure thing instead of a "Frankenfood" or "Frankenflower" you need to understand how seeds form and how pollination can affect them.  In this program, you’ll learn those basics, plus some key terms to help you succeed. We’ll talk about how growing to produce seeds is similar to and different from growing things just to enjoy them and learn a variety of ways to be sure you keep the characteristics you want. Then we’ll talk about when and how to harvest the seeds you want and how to process, store, and test your seeds to be sure they’re viable when you’re ready to plant them.  Depending on the weather, we may actually harvest some seeds from the library's own little native garden, do some hands-on seed processing or both.