Seed Saving

Today was the day I chose to uproot the arugula and save the seeds for next years crop, and the next year, and the next year, and the next fifteen years...if saved properly..which involves freezing? I'm still researching so I will confirm this when I post the pictures of the process.

Seed saving is an intuitive process. Most plants will reseed themselves without much assistance. Arugula, for instance grows like a weed, and will reseed itself much like a weed. The small black seeds grow in pods along the reedy stalk of the plant. I picked them before they were dried on the plant so that I would have control over where I plant them next year, otherwise they will decide for themselves. I placed the pods into a brown paper grocery bag to dry in the sun. Once completely dried I will crack the pods and place the seeds in breathable packaging, either to be frozen (?) or given to my friends, their friends, and people I don't even know to plant next year.

As an intuitive process, it is something that has been done for centuries and helps to preserve those heirloom varieties that we appreciate so much when we taste the difference. It is mostly obvious how to harvest your seeds, when the seeds appear: pick them, dry them, save them, replant them next year. There are some plants that are not quite so obvious--tomatoes for instance. Apparently if you want to save your tomato seeds you have to squeeze them out of the tomato (clearly), then soak them in water to remove the gelatinous encasement, and then you can dry them and save them.

So save your seeds, save your money, save the diversity of garden varietals, in short, save the world.