Well folks, it has been a busy summer for many of us on the gardening front, with a rather below average early season picking up for a decent 2nd half of summer. I hope that your veggies are growing well and that you may potentially have some plants going to seed to save and contribute to the Otepoti Seed Exchange! If you do have seeds to donate, just email us at otepoti.urban.organics@gmail.com, and we'll give you an address to post to or arrange to pick them up. We have already had a few donations coming in and I thank those members who have taken the time to save seeds for us. All seed donators receive free packs of seeds from our catalog, corresponding to the amount and variety of seed you donate.

We have been involved with several events over the past couple of months, including talks and seed saving workshops with groups including the Dunedin Vegetable Growers Club, the Otago Herb Society, and Transition Valley 473. I am considering holding one more seed saving workshop for this season, so if you are interested in attending one please email me to express interest. They are casual, enjoyable and informative events and always have some interesting and friendly people attending!

ROUGH GUIDE TO SEED SAVING
If you are intending to save seeds, it is a relatively simple process. Essentially you need to wait until the seeds have fully developed to a mature state, and then harvest them from the plant in a way which suits that plant. Here are some examples of how to save seed for different vegetable varieties:

FLOWERING / HEADING VARIETIES
e.g. Carrots, spinach, orach, silver beet, pak choi, lettuce etc.
Wait until the flower spike has matured and begun to dry out. Seeds should be turning black / brown / tan as opposed to the undermature colours of green or bright yellow. If seed heads are nearly mature but significant amounts of rain are forecast, pull out the plant by the roots and hang it upside down somewhere dry, such as a car port. The plant will direct the last of its energy remaining in the stems and leaves into seed production.

When the plant is fully dry, thresh out the seeds in whatever way is practical for that flower structure. Seed heads can sometimes simply be drawn through a clasped hand and seeds will fall off. Sometimes heads are more easily threshed over a tarpaulin or rubbed vigorously between the hands over a large bowl.

Seeds can be separated from other 'junk' (bits of leaf, stem and seed casings) by putting it all in a tray and wiggling it at a slight angle - seeds will usually go to one end and debris to another end. However its not crucial that all debris be removed as it will not affect the viability of the seeds.

NOTE: Some seeds will fall very easily from a mature plant. If this is the case, a paper bag can be secured around an entire seed head using a rubber band around the stem, and then the whole thing cut off and handled with care once seed maturity has been reached.

LEGUMES
For peas, beans and broad beans, plants are usually left to fully mature in the ground, until the pods begin drying up. But again, if plants are nearly mature and lots of rain is forecast, it can be beneficial to harvest the plant and hang upside down somewhere dry, to prevent rotting of the pods.

Once pods have dried out they are harvested from the plant and seeds are removed. The seeds should then be laid in a tray or box somewhere very dry for the next few days in order to achieve full dryness.

PUMPKINS, ZUCCHINI AND SQUASH
Allow fruits to fully ripen on the plant. For pumpkins, this is when fruits have developed a mature coloured skin, and the leaves of the plant die back after the first light frost. For zucchini, a large marrow will form, and it is mature when the skin becomes slightly dull and leathery. For both pumpkins and zucchini, fruits intended for seed saving can be propped up above the ground using a brick or similar object, to prevent rotting while they mature. Clean straw can also be laid down under the fruits for the same purpose.

When fruits are mature, harvest them and wait at least 1 more week before harvesting the seed. To harvest seed, chop fruit in half or crack open manually, scoop out seeds, and rinse under a sieve to remove excess pulp before drying seeds out and storing them.

TOMATOES
Wait until fruit is fully ripe (ie. full colour and slightly soft), and then chop tomato in half and squeeze out pulp with seeds. Collect all pulp from one variety and place it into an appropriate sized container, e.g. a clean yogurt pottle. Allow this to 'ferment' for 3 days or so, after which time a layer of caked white fungus should have formed on the top of the pulp. This is a beneficial process  for the protection and viability of the tomato seeds. Once the fungus layer has formed, pour the whole lot into a sieve and rinse thoroughly under a tap, removing all fungus and pulp leaving behind only seeds. Dry these out and save them.

Another method for saving tomato seeds is to spread the freshly harvested seed pulp onto paper towels and dry this out. The seeds can then be torn off one by one and planted still with paper attached, it does not affect germination too much.

FOR ALL SEEDS
After harvesting, ensure that the seeds are fully dry before storage. This can be achieved by keeping them in shoe boxes or paper bags somewhere very dry like an attic space. Alternatively, they can be put in an oven on a very low setting (like 40-50oC with the door open) and dried out for as long as necessary. You don't want the seeds themselves to get above about 30 or 35 degrees.

Once seeds are dry they can be stored either in sealed glass jars, or paper envelopes somewhere dry. To ensure complete dryness of seeds in the long term, silicone desiccant sachets can be added to sealed jars. Some asian food stores stock desiccant sachets that you can buy.

NOTE ON CROSS POLLINATION
The other thing that one needs to pay attention to is whether the variety that you are saving is crossbreeding or inbreeding. If it's crossbreeding, you need to make sure that no other varieties of the same species were flowering in your garden at the same time. For example, Silver Beet and Beetroot are actually both the same species - Beta vulgaris. One line has been selectively bred for its root, the other for its leaves. Because they are the same species, and being wind-pollinated, these plants will cross breed with one another if they are in close proximity (ie. the same garden). And as you can imagine, a cross between Silver Beet and Beetroot would kind of mess up those hundreds of years of selective breeding! The same goes for the brassica species Brassica oleracea, which includes Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and brussels sprouts (and a few others). So keep an eye on it!

I will be updating the website with more details of how to save seeds, in the gardening guide section. I am also working on a nifty seed planting / saving wall chart which will be available soon to help people out with some Otago specific growing info.

AUTUMN SEED CATALOG
The autumn seed cataolg is avaliable now, just email us at otepoti.urban.organics@gmail.com to get a copy. I have only included varieties on there that are suited to sowing in the next few months. Many things need to be planted NOW in order to get a late autumn or early spring harvest, so I'm at the ready to distribute seeds as soon as orders come in. Price is $1 per pack, plus $3 for postage within Otago / Southland. Minimum order is 10 packs of seeds. Payments can be made by online banking or cheque. To order, just email otepoti.urban.organics@gmail.com with your filled in order form or list of seeds that you want, and I will confirm the availability of these seeds and a final order price and provide you with bank details etc. We do have other seeds avaliable in limited quantities that are not on this list, so if there is something you are looking for and will be serious about saving seeds, just ask and I can let you know if we have it.

WWW.URBANORGANICS.ORG.NZ WEB FORUM
And as a final note, I'd like to remind you all that the forums on our website at www.urbanorganics.org.nz are a great way to share your gardening ideas and experiences, and ask any questions you may have about anything related to growing food in New Zealand (and specifically Otago / Southland). So go and have a browse, and get involved in our great community of active gardeners! If you have any photos to upload, there is instructions in the 'help' section, if you have any problems just let me know and I'll help out.

Cheers everyone, and good luck for the rest of your summer season! I look forward to more seed donations coming in, and I've got a few special varieties of seeds up my sleeve set aside especially for seed donators!

~~~Bart Acres