Seeds

Seeds     (S Rowe 08.10.24)

As I write it is early October and the seed catalogues are arriving, full of enticing pictures of the splendid crops we will be able to grow next year if we are lucky/clever enough.

Before getting carried away with your order there are a number of things to consider. Firstly when deciding what vegetables to grow, if you don’t like it to eat – don’t bother to grow it. Secondly if you have tried in the past and consistently failed, there may be something fundamentally wrong with your soil, your growing techniques or the weather in your area. So again – stop bothering. I have tried celery several times; it is always stringy, and so are the large exhibition examples of celery grown by our show growers. So I buy celery from Sainsbury’s.

When making your short list firstly consider the F1 hybrids. They may be more expensive but have been bred for plant vigour, disease resistance, and reliable cropping. This is not to say that some of the older varieties are not perfectly good; the summer cabbage ‘Greyhound’ takes a lot of beating, and if you have found a vegetable variety which grows well for you, then stick to it. Another symbol to look out for is the RHS Award of Garden Merit. This honour has been awarded to reliable varieties that grow well in the hands of amateurs, will tolerate a variety of growing conditions, are of stable constitution and resistant to disease.

Then, how many plants do you need? Standard sized packets are likely to contain enough seeds for the requirements of those of us who are growing for the table. Even the packets of cucumber containing only 4 seeds will be big enough if the seeds are carefully handled. So no need to buy a jumbo-sized packet.

Doctor Hessayon’s most excellent Expert book on vegetable growing says that by choosing the right varieties of cabbage you can pick one every day of the year. But why would you want to? Work out how many plants you are likely to need by thinking about how much you will actually eat, allow a few for failures and then only sow as many seeds as you need. If you adopt this approach you will have seeds left over, so can you keep them for next year? Yes, if you are careful. The viability of seeds decreases with age but is also markedly affected by the factors which jerk them into germination, namely light, moisture and temperature.

The key to storing seeds from one year to the next is to seal the packets carefully excluding as much air as possible when you have removed the seeds you are going to sow. Make sure that the packets are perfectly dry and then store them  in an airtight box (Tupperware or a biscuit box) and keep the box in a cool dark place – mine lives in the bottom of the pantry. Don’t leave your seeds lying about on the greenhouse shelf! The Expert book gives you some idea of how long seeds remain viable if stored properly but I have found these estimates to be conservative. I have had tomato seeds germinate very well after storage for 12 years and my kale seeds which are now 5 years old still germinated well in 2024. The exception is parsnip seed which really does not keep and needs to be bought fresh each year.

What about saving your own seed? This is perfectly possible except for seeds of F1 hybrids. These seeds are obtained by crossing 2 pure bred strains of parent plants; the seeds produced by the F1 hybrids themselves will not come true. Many growers save their own bean seed as this is easy to collect. It is tempting to save the odd seeds left over from the beans that you have missed harvesting, but it is cleverer to mark out your best plant, refrain from picking from it, and then saving its seed. Consistently adopting this ploy over the years will result in a seed strain ideally suited to the soil and weather conditions in your own area. Survival of the fittest! Collecting seed from other vegetables is trickier and probably not worth the effort unless you are a show grower with specialist leek/onion/carrot strains.

Flower seed can also be collected from your own plants. Again remember that seeds from F1 seed strains and named cultivars will not produce plants identical to the parent, but might result in some interesting hybrids.

Dr Hessayon’s “Expert” books were published some time ago but are still available – at a knock-down price from Amazon. The succinct growing advice is still as relevant as ever. Some of the varieties recommended have been superseded by more modern ones but the doctor’s basic principles of selection hold good. He is still alive, aged 96, so he must be doing something right.