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Monthly Gardening Tip: Seed Saving

  • January 16, 2025
  • Posted By: Pennsbury Manor

Seed Saving is one of the oldest agricultural practices in the world and has been relied upon for centuries by land-tenders across the globe. In a Kitchen Garden like the one here at Pennsbury, we employ seed saving to provide a strong growing base for our crops year over year. The act of saving seeds from selected plants helps to strengthen heirloom varieties and provide a more reliable food source for the next growing season.

Seed saving is a rather simple task that begins toward the end of Fall for many vegetables, herbs and beans. Many vegetables like carrots, radishes and beets bolt toward the end of their life cycle. Once their flowers are dry, we harvest the dry seeds for next years’ veggie crop. Similarly, if beans are allowed to completely dry on the vine, they are likely viable to harvest and plant for next season. For many seeds, keeping them in a cool and dry environment is the key to saving their stored energy.

A sizable collection of dry, dormant seeds could be enough to get a small household through their next growing season. Here at Pennsbury, though, the Penn household often supplemented their Kitchen Garden with ingredients less suited to growing in the Pennsylvania climate. Nonetheless, today we practice seed saving in order to strengthen and spread our collection of historic and native heirloom seeds grown in the Kitchen Garden at Pennsbury Manor.

Seed saving

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