Seed Saving

Today I attended a seed saving workshop sponsored by the Center for Rural Culture and hosted by J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College at the Goochland County campus.  Betsy Trice was our lovely instructor.

If you haven't already been to the college gardens, it is worth a visit.  Each spring they also host a garden fest to sell plants raised by the students. They really do grow alot in a relatively small space.  Today I discovered a papaya tree and several pomegranate bushes.  I am going to attempt to grow both of these fruits.

Betsy began the class with a discussion of open pollinated and hybrid seed varieties as well as GMO (genetically modified organisms) seeds.  We moved onto he importance of saving seeds from plants that have done well in our individual microclimates and preserving plant diversity.  Saving money is also a great benefit.

Then we moved out into the gardens to discuss the different types of fruit/veggies and when to harvest. I love this rain barrel set up.

Here we are harvesting sunflowers 

and dill

Dill seed

then we moved onto beautiful rhubarb, which looks just like beet seed.

After our tour of the gardens we returned for a demonstration of seed saving techniques for different fruit and veggie types.   

At the end of class we were able to select some seeds to take home.  I also found some great ideas like this elegant use of a hog panel as a trellis gate.

All in all, it was a great, if hot, day.