- Thread starter
- #31
digitS'
Garden Master
Seedcorn, it is awfully easy to save seed from radish, mustard and bok choy.
It is a good idea for me to leave some plants from an early planting. I can run a little late in sowing my "seed crop" but there is a risk that the season will run out. And, that's even true with radish! Maybe, it is mostly true with radish . . . The plants get pretty darn big - and take quite awhile making all that growth. They should be somewhere a little out-of-the-way and probably will need to be tied to a stake after awhile.
When the seedpods begin to toughen and finally to dry, you should take them in somewhere that the drying can continue without risk of the pods becoming wet from sprinklers or rain. At the point where they are brittle, it is easy to crush them by walking on them or running over them with a rolling pin.
The chaff & seed will separate with a little winnowing. I find it easiest to put a stepladder on the "upwind" side of a tarp laid out on the lawn. How high I go on the stepladder is determined by how much air movement there is. Pouring the mix out of a bowl or bucket should send the chaff flying. I find it helps to do this before I mow the lawn .
. . I may have to gather everything back in the bucket and take a step or 2 higher if the seed isn't as clean as I'd like. Also, a wind gust is reason to hesitate for a minute so the seed doesn't take off, too. It always works well for me - better than me trying to use a winnowing basket.
The seed can go back to dry a few more days before being stored for another season.
Steve
It is a good idea for me to leave some plants from an early planting. I can run a little late in sowing my "seed crop" but there is a risk that the season will run out. And, that's even true with radish! Maybe, it is mostly true with radish . . . The plants get pretty darn big - and take quite awhile making all that growth. They should be somewhere a little out-of-the-way and probably will need to be tied to a stake after awhile.
When the seedpods begin to toughen and finally to dry, you should take them in somewhere that the drying can continue without risk of the pods becoming wet from sprinklers or rain. At the point where they are brittle, it is easy to crush them by walking on them or running over them with a rolling pin.
The chaff & seed will separate with a little winnowing. I find it easiest to put a stepladder on the "upwind" side of a tarp laid out on the lawn. How high I go on the stepladder is determined by how much air movement there is. Pouring the mix out of a bowl or bucket should send the chaff flying. I find it helps to do this before I mow the lawn .
. . I may have to gather everything back in the bucket and take a step or 2 higher if the seed isn't as clean as I'd like. Also, a wind gust is reason to hesitate for a minute so the seed doesn't take off, too. It always works well for me - better than me trying to use a winnowing basket.The seed can go back to dry a few more days before being stored for another season.
Steve
I've had kale and lettuce go to seed and never had that problem before. But things got a little bit ahead of me this year...
