And I may get another two pounds when I cut the plants out in two weeks. I'm cutting them out because I have garlic planted underneath them and I don't want to disturb it. And I expect I'll harvest more then because I'm quite sure that I missed some that I will find when I'm not worried about not damaging the plant. And then the plants will end up in the compost pile.
Now the rant. Or more a "because I care" message.
There are a lot of folks out there that are selling "seed banks" for "disaster times". And there are a lot of people buying them and setting them in a corner for those "disaster times". And there are a lot of people who are going to get a really, really hard lesson in reality if they ever have to fall back on those seed banks. I'm leaving out all the sections on the hard realities of gardening and just addressing seeds here.
This year I decided to clean out my seed box before buying any new seed. I've had massive fail rates on those seeds. I expected it but I wanted "to be sure" before I went buying new seed. And even with the massive fail rates, I still got some plants and that meant that I could buy fewer plants/seeds. But if I was solely dependent on what had been in my seed box for food - we would have starved.
Now at this point some of you are thinking "well it was old seed and she didn't store it correctly." And you would be correct. But then we hit the new seed.
Now new seed bought in the last couple of months should have a really good germination rate. Now this is the point where those of you who garden start thinking "but she didn't germinate them correctly" and want to teach me about sterile pots/soil/etc. And you would only be partially right. One tray of seeds didn't get babied. The rest did.
With new seed, being babied, on plants that almost always germinate regardless of most conditions (pumpkins and squashes), I'm getting a 0 - 25% germination rate. And this is seed from the big companies not cheap seed packs. Okay, granted this is seed purchased at big box stores, not from the better online companies. But this is the seed that is in most of these seed banks. And I got similar germination rates for direct sowed seeds in the garden beds. New seed. Folk, these are seriously bad germination rates for me. I normally get at least 80% germination even if I goof off and forget to baby the seeds/seedlings. High enough that I don't plant entire packets and I make plans to give away the extras when sprouting is done.
Now here is where I smack my own hand because I know better than to let so many years go by without using seed and saving my own seed fresh. But you folks who are putting aside these seed banks don't know this. And there are a lot of people who are just learning to garden that don't know this.
So, if you absolutely must have a seed bank that you don't create from your own plants each year. First, please view it as a yearly expense and replace your seed bank seeds every year. Max - every two years. Second, please get organic heirloom seeds. Then you know you have the best seeds to give you every possible chance at success. Third, store whatever seeds you get in a cool dark place in your house - even if they are sealed in a can or mylar. Oh, and honestly, seal them up yourself.
Now, if you are as broke as I am replacing the seed every year is daunting. Especially when you are talking about replacing it with organic heirloom seed. But there are a couple of ways that you can do this without doing major damage if you can't grow a large garden from year to year.
My first suggestion is to team up with someone you know who gardens regularly. You can do this by offering one of two things. First, offer them the seed bank in exchange for a matching amount of fresh seeds at the end of harvest time. This is fair because while you paid for the seed, they will be putting in the time and effort to grow the crops and harvest them in a manner which provides seed for replanting. They will get paid for this effort with the food that they raise and the seed that they can save for themselves. But be honest with them about the age of the seed that you are providing. And expect that there will be failures which you will get no seed for, but then they will get nothing either despite the work they put into it. Second, if you don't already have a seed bank. Offer to buy them seed for the plants that you want seed for. Buy it fresh that year. Then the rest is the same agreement. This can be a really beneficial relationship on so many levels.
The second suggestion is for if you don't know someone who gardens, or you want to learn more about gardening yourself, you can bypass working with someone else. Just grow one or two of each plant each year in a small plot or pots. Then save the seed from those plants to work with the following year. Don't toss the prior year's seed until you have harvest this year's seed. That way if you end up with a problem you can try again. Actually, I would save back a couple of years but then I'm super cautious. Even if you have a low germination rate you should be able to get some seed. There are problems with this idea in regards to pollination and genes but it's better than nothing. And those problems are why I suggest keeping several years worth of seed. If needed you can back up to prior years seeds, and while the germination rate will be lower, you can "undo" issues that may pop up.
Okay, that's enough rant. I've got a mischief child who is giving me funny looks because I'm eating peas in the pod. :-) I'm going to go do some peeling and then head out to harvest a wild crop. Hopefully some of you are getting some good harvests as well.
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