EDITOR'S NOTE: Digital photo available from gsngltn@clemson.edu

DATE:   9/21/00
WRITER: Dr. David Bradshaw, Extension horticulturist, 
        (864) 656-4949
EDITOR: Giles Singleton, (864) 656-3876

Teach your children to save seeds

     CLEMSON -- Relief at last from the high humidity and the 
heat of late August! Recently walking across campus, I marveled 
at how clear the air seemed, and I admired the brilliant blue 
sky. Almost unconsciously I felt an urge to collect seeds for 
next year's crop. 
     I stopped to consider why I should associate seed saving 
with a sudden change in the weather. Perhaps there is something
inherent in us that instills a need to store away seeds for 
another season, a basic urge for survival which dates back to 
our earliest roots as primitive gatherers.
     I can certainly identify how I became a seed collector. 
My grandfather saved many of his favorite vegetable seeds, which 
had been passed on to him from his parents. They, in turn, had 
gotten their seeds from their parents. I had been witness to a 
very real part of our family heritage, that of saving heirloom 
seeds.
     Today I still grow some of these heirloom vegetables and 
can trace them back a hundred and fifty years in my family. Of 
course, it means a lot to me to know that I have seeds which 
were mainstays in the diets of my ancestors. I am intrigued with 
their history, and I enjoy their unique flavors. I also feel 
the responsibility to carry on a family tradition.
     The Turkey Gizzard Bean is a good example of an heirloom
vegetable. In 1802, a settler in Kentucky killed a wild turkey. 
While cleaning the turkey, he discovered two unusual seeds in 
the gizzard. 
     He planted them, and the snap beans that grew have been 
passed down through many generations. Family members are still 
growing them today.
     I can assure you that these heirloom vegetable varieties 
would not exist today if they did not possess valuable tolerance 
to insects and environmental conditions as well as resistance 
to various diseases. Herein lies the true value of heirloom 
vegetable varieties. Their genes may hold the key to the survival 
in the event that a new disease were to become epidemic among 
our newer hybrid varieties.
     Each time we store seeds over winter and plant them the 
next summer, we can select for the improvement of a vegetable 
variety.
     Common sense dictates that we only save seeds from our 
best and most productive plants. These choice seeds are not 
only the most likely to survive over winter but also contain 
the genes for growing the strongest and most productive 
offspring. Plants which were susceptible to diseases and 
weakened by insects would not be good stock plants for seed 
production.
     I am always careful to observe which plants produce the 
tastiest vegetables, and I reserve some of the crop for saving 
vine until they are fully mature and begin the natural process 
of getting old.                     
     Then I harvest them, clean them of any fruit or chaff, and 
spread them out in a dry, well-ventilated place to continue drying. 
I find that an old screen wire suspended from the ceiling in the 
open garage or in the barn works well for curing seeds. This 
also protects them from foraging mice. Most beans and peas can 
be handled this way.
     After a week of drying, most seeds benefit from being sealed 
in an airtight container and stored over winter in a refrigerator. 
This will protect them from excessive drying and also inhibits 
insect infestations which can reduce the germination percentage.
     Some varieties of vegetables may have to be handled somewhat
differently upon harvesting. For example, the seeds of tomatoes 
and some melons must be cleaned of any fleshy fruit adhering to 
the seeds at harvest time.
     This soft flesh can be removed easily. First, place the 
seeds and fruit flesh in a kitchen vegetable strainer. Then put 
the strainer under a strong current of tap water. Some rubbing 
may also be needed during this wash to remove all the fruit flesh. 
Dry on a paper towel.
     Tomato seeds and flesh can also be placed in an open pint 
jar and allowed to ferment for three days to remove the flesh. 
Use the strainer as described earlier to assure clean seeds 
for storage. Dry these also on a paper towel.
     One word of caution is appropriate here. If tomato seeds 
are fermented too long -- five or six days -- the seeds may 
actually begin germination right in the fermenting "soup" and 
result in total loss of germination.
     While collecting and saving heirloom seeds is a good way 
to preserve your family heritage, it can also be a good way 
to interest children in gardening. The process can be a good 
way to encourage personal responsibility and to teach 
patience. 
     So go to the garden today and save some of those old 
open-pollinated varieties. - David Bradshaw, Clemson Extension
horticulturist.
     If you don't have seeds to save, but would like to grow 
some heirloom vegetables, contact S.C. Foundation Seed for a 
catalogue at (864) 656-2520, fax your request to (864) 656-1320, 
email seedw@clemson.edu. or go to: 
http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/seed/favorite.htm. Included 
with the order form are Bradshaw's description of each vegetable, 
its history, donor, and the best ways to prepare it. Heirloom 
vegetable varieties are on display in The S.C. Botanical Garden 
next to the Hanover House, on the campus of Clemson University.
            ***************************************
     If you have gardening questions or comments, write to PSA 
Media Relations, A-101 Poole Agricultural Center, Clemson 
University, Clemson, S.C. 29634-0129. Find other Buds and 
Blooms columns at: http://www.clemson.edu/psamedia.
                             END