pardon me for a moment + let me interrupt your scrolls to let you know that some of of the links you click on might earn me a commission, at no extra cost to you. this keeps eco friendly homestead reader-supported, and helps fund my ever expanding plant collection. thanks!
This article focuses on the why of seed saving. If you’re looking for an overview of how to save seeds, check out our seed saving guide here.
1. Heirloom:
Heirloom seeds have been grown for over 50 years and are typically handed down from farmer to farmer from seeds that they have saved themselves.
Heirloom seeds can have beautiful stories connected to them. For example, the Lorz variety of garlic was brought over to the United States with a family who migrated from Italy.
Moreover, Heirloom varieties are open-pollinated (more on that below), so they are more genetically diverse. Since you are able to save these seeds year after year, you are able to continue the line of these plants in ways that are adapted to your growing conditions.
2. Open-pollinated:
Open-pollinated plants are not hybrids, meaning that they can cross-pollinate with each other and produce seeds that are true to type (meaning: no surprises when you plant them in taste or appearance). This means that you can save the seeds that come from open-pollinated plants and get an expected result from planting them. Open-pollinated plants can be heirloom as well.
3. Open Source:
Open source seed varieties are the opposite of a patented or trademarked variety of seeds. They are pledged by the grower to be available for all to cultivate, propagate, save seeds from, and sell. This promotes sovereignty, freedom, and diversity in the plants that we grow and the food we eat. Learn more at: www.osseeds.org
Hybrid Seeds:
Hybrid plants are bred for very specific qualities, such as resistance to certain diseases or pests. This is great if you have had trouble with certain diseases in the past, such as the carrot rust fly or tomato blight. Hybrid seeds and plants can help you to have a successful crop.
The downside to hybrid seeds is that when you save the seeds, they will not be true-to-type when planted the following growing season. So seeds from last year’s hybrid tomato might produce fruit that is funky, which can be a good thing or a not-so-good thing.
Additionally, some plants are trademarked and patented, which means it’s not allowed to take cuttings from that plant for propagation.
When you save seeds in your garden, you’re maintaining genetics of what has survived in your garden long enough to reach maturity.
Slowly over time, you can select for taste and resiliency within a certain variety of seeds.
For example, let’s say you were planting the Lorne Fava bean in the fall to over-winter for a spring harvest. You’d naturally be selecting for winter hardiness, because any plants that did not survive the winter would not produce seed. From there, you can look at the overall vigor and productivity of the individual plants, and mark the best ones to save for seed. As you start eating the beans, you might select for bigger beans, taste, color, or even how many beans are in each pod.
Over time, more and more of your Fava beans will survive the winter, produce well, and continue the genetics that you selected for in your seed saving.
A great way to build more sustainability into your garden is to also start selecting plants that thrive with less input. To continue with the bean example, let’s say you planted some during your driest time of year. If you baby the plants and water them every day, you’ll not only use a ton of precious water, but you’ll also start to select for plants that NEED that amount of water to thrive. The same can be said for adding fertilizer and spraying for pests. Building resiliency into your garden through less input is great for your wallet and the planet as well.
Landrace gardening, also known as adaptivar growing, is long-practiced method of plant breeding where many different varieties of a plant are grown together, typically with low input.
So in our fava bean example, instead of just isolating the Lorne variety of fava beans, you’d plant as many varieties of fava beans as you could in one spot, encouraging the different varieties to cross-pollinate.
The goal is the same: see what genetics survive your desired growing conditions and meet your flavor preferences. Due to cross-pollination from the different varieties, the seed produced by the “winners” will produce some mixing of variety characteristics. These “winners” of the landrace are planted in a similar situation the following growing season to continue to select and refine. Each growing season, the plant will become more and more adapted to your growing environment and taste preferences. Landrace techniques have been shared and explored extensively by Joseph Lofthouse, and I highly recommend his book on it:
What I’m especially interested in with seed saving is how it can both support the environment with less input needed in gardens and on farms, and can also create more resiliency in the garden as we continue to see the results of climate change. A garden that can adapt to a changing climate is one that will thrive and continue to feed our population.
I’m currently working on personal seed saving projects to look for brassicas that survive slugs, and crops that do well with minimal watering during our nearly rain-free summers. I also have a goal to continue to steward seeds from more rare varieties of fava beans, as they are some of my favorite plants.
We are on our second planting of Butterball potatoes, and I’m hoping to work more drought-resistance into their genetics on our homestead.
