Attending the seed saving class is one of the highlights of the month for me. Sylvia’s gardens are always picture perfect and it’s amazing to see the difference one month makes in her gardens. Of course my gardens change as well, but since I’m in them everyday I don’t see it so clearly.
The agenda for our July class was to check on the progress of the grains and other plants that were going to seed.
Also discussed were protecting crops from birds and animals. When you are saving your seeds the plants need to be protected from insects, birds and animals and to do this you want to use natural methods. Sylvia covers her grains and ties a string around them to keep the chipmunks out. She’s tried traps but once the grain is ripe the animals much prefer the grain to anything she can put in the trap.
She also used a shiny bird flash tape, which the birds think is fire! I guess it works, as we didn’t see any birds in her garden.
We also talked about the various isolation techniques used when you want to save your seeds as well as maintaining variety purity and vigor. Plants can be isolated by covering them with row covers.
They can also be isolated by only planting one variety.
I find the two hours well spent and I come away with pages of notes and a renewed interest in growing and saving my own seeds.
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Nancy on the Home Front 