The Craftiest Workshop

I have started using an old bakers rack to store flower and vegetable seeds over winter. We have some wooden frames with metal screening and some old baking trays as shelves. I use cardboard bottoms from bulk Costco purchases to put the flower heads and seed pods into. It also stores cut wood slices, my onions, some orange slices I plan to use for crafts and some lily fronds that I plan to weave into something.

Some time before May I spend time breaking apart flower heads and seed pods to collect the seeds. That was what I decided to tackle this past week.

I planted Calendula for the first time last summer. It was next to my onion patch and backed onto my dill and cucumbers. It flowered forever and was the last thing still alive in the garden at the end of September/early October.

As the flowers lost their petals, I plucked the heads off and stored them in an open box in the greenhouse to dry. As the weather cooled, I moved the box to the house. I ended up with a lot of flower heads as it bloomed for a good two months.

I peeled the seeds off the heads and collected the dried flower petals. The flower petals are supposed to make a nice tea. Each seed looks like a shell to me. I ended up with a full large Cheez Whiz jar of this seed plus a bit more.

I had left dill in the garden so that it would go to seed. This is one of our worker bees that was hard at work until we had our first heavy frost in the fall.

I took those dill heads and stored them in a large paper bag. I should have just shook the bag to remove the seeds but I ended up rubbing my fingers over each bunch of seeds. This kept some of the stems attached to the seed. It will be fine for planting but wouldn’t work if I wanted to use any in recipes.

Next came the Zinnias. The seed is located at the end of each flower petal and looks like a small spear. It amazes me that every flower has a different way of going to seed. I got quite a few seeds from very few flowers. I hope to increase the size of my zinnia flower patch this year.

I still have a box of marigold heads but those are easily separated when I decide to plant them; each seed looking like a tiny match. The seed in the photo is from one head. We plan to plant marigolds or calendula below our fruit trees this year so they won’t go to waste.

I have small amounts of Nasturium, black oil sunflower and Lavatera seed. My mom gave me a second pill bottle of Nasturium seed. Of these sunflower heads, only one did not get eaten by a deer poking its head through the fence.

I collected enough sugar snap peas to plant another crop this year.
I haven’t bought pea seeds in a good ten years.

My one pumpkin yielded lots of seeds and I may try to grow it again this year. Watering becomes an issues when we get so little rain. I may instead plant Spaghetti squash. My mom had a squash from the summer that we cooked while I was there in January. I brought back some of the seeds from it. Planting it below corn is supposed to be a good location for squash.

My wax beans had a horrible year so I didn’t keep any for seed. I decided to buy a climbing variety instead and will plant them at the base of my corn. Corn, climbing beans and squash combined are called Three Sister Planting.

We made a special trip to our local greenhouse this week after they posted that their seed packets were in. I waited too long to buy seeds last year and couldn’t get some of the things I wanted to buy. They carry a Pacific Nothwest brand that I have never tried with prices comparable to Mackenzie seeds. I have decided to give them a try.

I am not sure why I didn’t think to save some zucchini or cucumber seeds. Hopefully this year I will be more on the ball. I did buy a different cucumber that might be better for salads and straight up eating. The dill cucumbers I planted last year were really only good for pickling.

I am excited to try the birdhouse gourds. If it works then I can hang some homes for my feathery friends. I also wanted Pak Choi (like baby bok choy) for my more shady boxes. I think I am still missing Brussel Sprout seed which, I think, also likes shade.

I have many lettuce and herb seeds left from last year so I am good for those. I asked my sister in-law Malisa for some Morning Glory seeds after seeing her photos. She passed on some to me along with some Cosmos and Hollyhock seed. I realized last year that you need flowers in the garden to attract the pollinators.

Saving seed is not only economical but also makes sense for getting things to grow the next year. Chances are that seed from something grown in your area will grow again the next year. It also feels good when you can keep the cycle going each year. Plant to seed to plant to seed.