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Harvesting Seeds 

By: Decomposed in POPE 5 | Recommend this post (2)
Tue, 22 Oct 19 8:49 PM | 31 view(s)
Boardmark this board | Pope 5 		Msg. 42867 of 62138
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I'm spending a little time today harvesting marigold and alyssum seeds in the hope that they'll be usable in the Spring. It's kind of interesting, actually. Alyssum, for instance, is ground cover with tightly bundled, white flowers, each of which forms a single seed.





As the plant grows, the flowers march down the lengthening stalk leaving the older seeds behind. What's the purpose of this? It allows them to dry - which is the first thing a grower otherwise has to do when harvesting seeds. Alyssum evolved to do this on its own.





Marigolds are easier. Pinch the center of a dead flower and pull out. You'll be holding fifteen or twenty tightly packed seeds. There's no need to do the tedious work of separating seeds from stalks the way there is with alyssum.Unlike alyssum, marigold seeds DO need to dry. I'll let these sit out for ten days or so before putting them away for the winter in a sealed envelope .

BTW, it took me no more than five minutes to pick all of these. I came away with the feeling that Burpee is incredibly chintzy. The envelopes of seed I bought this year for two or three dollars each only had twenty or thirty seeds. (Of course, I won't know until later whether any of my seeds will actually grow. Maybe the originals will have a higher germination rate than these will making "store bought" worth the money. I'll let you know next year.)




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Gold is $1,581/oz today. When it hits $2,000, it will be up 26.5%. Let's see how long that takes. - De 3/11/2013 - ANSWER: 7 Years, 5 Months

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