Seed saving. It seems like everyone’s doing it, and it’s a good job for a warm and breezy Sunday afternoon. Today I got my saved seeds into ziplock bags, and it gave me new enthusiasm to get out sowing. While I think of seed saving as putting away seeds for next year, some crops like lettuce can be sowed back straight away.
A couple of weeks ago I collected ripe stems from the winter crops, which had gone to seed with the warm weather, then set them upside down in paper bags and left them in a basket in the shed. Today, after a morning trip to the beach, the strong breeze turned my thoughts to winnowing.
The lettuce had a big yield, which was timely since I had just been down in the plot wondering whether I should go ahead and sow another row regardless of the sunny weather. Now I feel like I should just give it a go, as I’m never going to get through all these.
All my brassicas needed a bit of a rub to free all the seeds, and then a quick shake in the breeze winnowed off the pods. With fresh packets of rocket, mizuna, and mibuna, I’ve got some inspiration to go for even more salad greens, this time where I can keep the water up to them. The bok choi though is probably best left till Autumn.
Which all just reminded me that I need to pick some of the other plants that are ripening – radish, daikon, more lettuce and endive, and then there’s fennel on the way, although I’ll keep most of that for the kitchen.
