Pocket Seed Banks

While not all gardeners may enjoy or participate in the fall ritual of harvesting and saving seeds, it is probably my favorite gardening activity. After actually starting plants from seeds for my garden, seed saving is the gardening activity that makes me feel most like a gardener. I'm amazed that a plant can grow from something that is sometimes the size of the period at the end of a sentence. When harvesting and saving seeds in my garden, visiting other gardens or just walking around my city; I often find a seed or seed pod I collect by placing in my pocket. Seed savers or seed snatchers, if you will, know to carry plastic and paper bags this time of year for the dangling seeds and seed pods that beckon to be collected and saved. Here's how I create pocket seed banks recycling tin mint containers.

How to Collect Viola Seeds

While violas will readily reseed in the garden I wanted to collect seeds from my Viola 'BlackJack' blooms as a backup because I was growing them in a small terracotta pot on my porch garden. Before I could collect seeds I had to make sure the blooms were pollinated. The tiny blooms on these plants made finding the right tool difficult, artist brushes were too large so I ended up using a hair from my beard. Yes, you read that right. It seems like a lot of trouble to go through for a garden annual but the seeds for these violas were kind of expensive.

"Home Farming" Basil Seeds

I recently had the opportunity to talk to Paul James "The Gardener Guy" about National Public Gardens Day, more about that later at my Chicago Garden blog. Before the phone interview I was doing some research on Paul James and came across his Facebook page and learned he was working with Triscuit to promote "Home Farming."

How To Collect Hollyhock Seeds

The first hollyhocks I grew in my garden were black hollyhocks in memory of an old neighbor who grew them when I was a kid. These hollyhocks were biennial, from seed they take two years to complete a life cycle, and I didn't save any seeds and so lost both of them.

Why didn't I save seeds from my hollyhocks? Not really sure why I didn't since hollyhock seeds are easy to collect. If you have a hollyhock in your garden that you really like, you should save some seeds from it every year and sow them.

Collecting and saving hollyhock seeds is very simple.

How to collect and save hollyhock seeds

How To Collect Hosta Seeds

Gardeners who grow hostas usually grow them for the foliage and because they lighten up shady gardens, but these perennial garden plants have just as impressive star-shaped flowers. The first hosta was introduced in my garden by way of seeds I swapped with another gardener online. In the fall I dug a small hole in the soil and placed the seeds, covering them with an inch or two of soil...the next spring I had hosta leafs!

I now have a couple of different hostas, all grown from seeds I collected once I learned how easy it was to gather and sow the seeds.

Hosta flower stalk: How to Collect Hosta Seeds.

How to Collect Marigold Flower Seeds

Marigolds are common and inexpensive garden annuals, but that doesn't mean you can't, or shouldn't, collect seeds from your Marigold flowers for next year. This year was the first year in a really long time that I grew Marigolds in my garden. I grew them alongside a few vegetables and herbs as companion plantings. Over the weekend I found myself doing some cleaning in the garden and a took a few minutes to save a few seeds from my potted Marigolds for next year. Marigolds don't produce large or round seeds- which can make figuring out where the Marigold seeds are confusing for the beginner gardener or first time seed saver.

How To Collect Morning Glory Seeds

Morning glories are popular annual garden vines because they grow in a variety of soil conditions and in container gardens. The flowers usually last for a single morning and die in the afternoon, although on cloudy days, the flowers may last well into the early evening or night.Collecting and saving morning glory seeds from a vine in your garden, or one you may admire in another garden, is just as easy as growing them in your garden. Morning glories require very little attention in the garden and collecting seeds from a morning glory doesn't take any special knowledge.

How To Collect Four O' Clock Flower Seeds

Not far from my garden there is an empty lot with a hedge of Four O' Clocks that grow an flower like mad. I try not to pass the abandoned property very often because these plants just remind me just how much I stink at trying to get these seeds to germinate. I've tried for years to grow Four O' Clocks from seeds with little luck. On this abandoned property they grow in almost full sun, watered only by rain and they thrive.

Confessions Of A Seed Snatcher

A few weeks ago I put the poll in the sidebar of this blog wondering if people would admit to being "seed snatchers." Not surprisingly some of the respondents didn't know what a seed snatcher was or maybe they aren't familiar with the term. I was surprised the number of people who admit to participating in the practice.