UW Farm Weekly Dirt: Seed Saving Season
Around the Farm: Seed Saving Season by Kove Janeski, UW Farm Student Staff
As the growing season wraps up in the PNW, the UW Farm team is hard at work threshing, collecting, counting, and storing seeds for the future. Seed saving is an important task for many farms and gardens that aim to be more sustainable and cost-effective.
At the farm, we collect seeds from the most productive open-pollinated and self-pollinated plants throughout the growing season to pass on genes that are more likely to be regionally adapted to the microclimate at UW. Seed saving practices also hold immense cultural value, especially for Indigenous peoples: through the continued cultivation of specific plant varieties, Indigenous farming practices and knowledge are celebrated and preserved!
For those interested in saving seeds for their own garden or farm, it is important to know a little bit about the differences between heirloom, genetically modified, and hybrid plants. Heirloom, or open-pollinated plants, will always be great plants for saving seeds! Genetically modified plant seed can also be saved, but be aware of the manufacturer’s policies on their patented seed before doing so. Unfortunately, hybrid varieties of vegetables will not produce true seed in the next generation, so their seeds should not be saved. However, a hybrid plant can be cloned from a cutting of the original plant! The Seed Savers Exchange is a useful resource for seed saving strategies.
If you are looking to buy seeds to get started on your own growing and seed saving adventure, check out these amazing, local seed distributors that the UW Farm also sources from!
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The Weekly Dirt is produced once a week by the University of Washington Farm, a program of the UW Botanic Gardens, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, College of the Environment. It is published nearly year-round for educational purposes and the majority of the content is written or contributed by students and farm staff.