Gardening – Saving Seeds

By Cynthia Sax on September 17, 2025

It is moving into Fall/Autumn in my part of the universe and it is time for some intense seed saving.

I like to save seeds as early as possible in the season because then I’m assured I’ll have seeds for next year and can relax a bit. But some plants like butternut squash can take all season for their seeds to ripen.

And we wish to ripen those seeds on the plant for as long as possible. That increases the probability those seeds will be viable as the plant has put maximum energy into creating them.

I save my seeds in cleaned-out plastic condiment containers, the type we get with take-out orders. I then put those condiments in old metal cookie/biscuit tins and store them in the cooler basement.

I usually have a gazillion seeds. So I usually plant extra in the Spring because…I can and because that ensures at least some of them will be viable.

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Seed Saving And Sharing

By Cynthia Sax on August 27, 2025

(The radish seeds, contained within these pods, are almost ready to harvest. They merely need to dry a bit.)

I reserve a part of the harvest for the wildlife.

The Mafia Squirrels will steal some cherry tomatoes. The birds will eat some raspberries. The slugs will devour some green beans.

That is the reality of gardening and is a part of the honor of sharing this wonderful planet with other lifeforms.

I also, however, reserve a part of the harvest for seeds.

I allow some plants, like radishes and spinach and others, to flower and then go to seed. This is a long process and I can’t use that garden space for anything else while it is happening.

But it is necessary to ensure there will be a harvest next year.

We saw during the early days of COVID that buying seeds is not always a reliable option. It was almost impossible to find lettuce seeds in my part of the world in 2020, for example.

If times get tough, seeds will be difficult to obtain again.

Plus saved seeds are usually more suited to our particular growing conditions. The plants that survived to give us those seeds thrived in our gardens.

Often, when we save seeds, we end up with WAY more seeds than we could ever possibly use.

I could convert the entire neighborhood to 100% spinach lawns with the seeds I’ve saved.

(grins)

I share my excess seeds with other gardeners in the area. It is an easy and free way to make their lives a little bit happier.

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Does Gardening Save Money?

By Cynthia Sax on July 1, 2023

People often assume we’re growing vegetables to save money.

(squishy face) It DOESN’T save us money. Not in the short run.

The Dear Wonderful Hubby is a master grocery shopper and he finds quite a few vegetable bargains. He also buys the huge boxes of tomatoes and bell peppers local farmers supply to grocery stores during the summer and fall. I process and freeze those vegetables. I do the same with the massive bags of onions he buys. We’re cool about eating canned and frozen produce, which helps lower our grocery bill also.

Today, we can source vegetations fairly inexpensively.

And there are vegetables this summer TO source. We aren’t seeing many shortages thus far. (Knock on wood that continues.)

Growing vegetables MIGHT save us money years from now if the prices increase. We’re honing our skills as gardeners. Those skills might be needed in the future.

And gardening gives me happiness. I like watching things grow!

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