[Homestead] ???

Lynn Wigglesworth lynnw1366 at hotmail.com
Fri Mar 6 11:03:02 EST 2009


> What seeds from the nursery do you save, by the way?

I haven't saved much seed in the past; you have to isolate from other 
varieties, unless you are purposely crossing them. I grow so many different 
tomatoes, for example, in close proximity that they could cross. Not that 
that is always a bad thing, but you never know what you will get. This year 
I got open pollinated varieties and plan to isolate some (just put bags over 
them during blooming to make sure they are only pollinated by the one I 
want) and save some seeds. You can save any type of  OP seed this way.

I don't believe that seeds will become too expensive, or unavailable as some 
say, but I'd like to save money and  start developing varieties adapted to 
my farm...you do that by picking the 'best' for several generations, saving 
seed, and perpetuationg those genes. I've done that with garlic (cloves, not 
seed), and I get consistently large bulbs now. I plan to save tomato, winter 
squash, beans, corn (I grow some OP and some hybrid...I prefer hybrid sweet 
corn), and maybe other seeds. I know that.especially with tomatoes, even if 
I find something I like (right now Rose and Morgage Lifter are my 
favorites), I'll always be trying new varieties.

Lynn Wigglesworth
Tioga Co. PA 




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