The high cost of commercial seed purchases!

I had occasion to go to a seed website today to look at some seeds for my planned spring garden. What a surprise to find that a package of just 30 Red Cayenne seeds were going to cost me $3.95 for the package and $4.95 to ship them to me. That’s a cost of .30 cents per seed! I then tried adding four packets of seeds (bean, tomato, melon and cucumber) into the shopping basket to find that the shipping was now $6.96 for a total cost of $18.75! Folks, that is just too much money! And yes, there is a cheaper way around this problem.

For one thing, you can frequent the local mega-marts like Lowe’s and Home Deport where you can often find the exact same packages fro the same company for less than half the cost. Plus there is no shipping charge! What might cost $2.95 on-site may only be $1.95 at the store. That’s a real bargain.

Another way to get around this is to plant only heirloom seeds and then allow some of the plants to go to seed. I’ve done just that this past season with hot cayenne peppers, sweet Banana peppers, Kentucky Wonder beans and even Cherry Bell radishes. I’ve carefully dried these and then stored them in small packages in the bottom of the fridge. I now have plenty to plant and even to share come next spring.

I was thinking also, it might be fun if other began traded seeds via the mail or even started selling them to other interested parties. One idea I had was to offer ten seeds if someone sent an order. I would only request that they also include an extra .41 cent stamp, by way of payment, for each packet of ten seeds processed. Such a transaction would not include actual money, but would allow for the seller to ship out ten seeds at a cost to the buyer of .82 cents while the seller makes a profit of .41 cents. Additional batches of seeds could then be purchased at a rate of ten seeds for every stamp included. Anyone out there who might want to comment on this, I would appreciate hearing from them. I'm just trying to think outside the box.

The Frugal Gardener. Hey! Wait a minute, that’s me!

Some end of the season thoughts from a gardener who has most likely lost what little mind he had.

If there is one thing that many years of gardening has taught me, it’s that you can spend a boatload of money and get small results. I’ve had occasion to hold up a tomato and realized that in order to produce it, I’d spent something like ten dollars in the process. (That included the labor (hours and hours), bags of soil purchased at a garden center, seeds ordered from Burpee, water and all the other stuff that had to be done to raise this one little beauty). It dawned on me that there was more to growing vegetables economically than first met my eye! Years later, I’m still learning something new every day!

My quintessential garden crop

My first lesson learned was the year I tried to plant everything under the sun (sixty dollars worth of seed from Burpee). I even had seed packets for vegetables I didn’t even like (okra comes to mind). I think I had enough seed to supply everyone on the block. I’ll admit to liking the pretty pictures in the catalogs. (Have you ever looked at a patty pan squash and not just loved it to death)? Have you ever eaten one?

So nowadays, I’ve paired down my growing efforts to be only those crops I knew I liked (and that I could grow). This list has gotten shorter over time:

Radishes – Cherry Belle. Used mostly in the spring as a marker crop.
Romaine – Little Caesar. A lettuce that is also nutritious! Spring and fall only,
Potatoes – Nutrient dense and a no-brainer to grow. Buy from local sources.
Tomatoes – Brandywine. Cause they taste so darn good!
Green beans – Kentucky Wonder is my pick for beans every year.
Cucumbers – A heirloom called Straight Eight!
Green peppers – California Wonder. Peppers rule!

Now, while there are other crops I will also sow like Nasturtiums and Basil, these are the ones I definitely plant every year. All of em, with the exception of the radish (Cherry Belle), romaine (Little Caesar) and the potatoes were purchased only once and then grown the next season from the seed I saved.


Obtaining those first seeds

While I’m on the subject, you don’t always have to go out and spend money on seed if you have generous friend(s) with similar interests. Begging works for me. Or, you can all get together in late winter and order in a coop fashion. One packet of romaine seed may contain over 300 seeds and if you start them indoors you’ll have plenty to share! Other seed can be saved each year to the point where you can share them back with your same friends.

Heirloom seeds

In case you might not know the difference, heirloom seed will always produce the exact same plant while a hybrid will most likely not. The reason many gardeners buy hybrids in the first place is due to the fact that they have been specially bred to resist certain diseases that may be common to your locale. However, there are proven ways to avoid these problems which just a little additional reading can cure. One book that really helped me out was titled ‘Seed Starting’ by Nancy Bubel. With seed packets costing in the three dollar range, it really pays to just save some seed and use it for next year. It’s your call.

Keeping your soil healthy

My first garden efforts not only included horrendous amounts of money spent on seed, but also on ‘soil amendments’. Stuff like vermiculite, peat moss, blood meal, phosphate and even sand. Since I had started with a poor soil (a silty clay loam from the bottom of a local river - yuk), I felt the need to try and improve it. (But, you’d be amazed at how many bags of compost and sand and vermiculite can disappear in a small raised bed). And all that money! Eventually, I found something that was worked just as well and which didn’t cost anything extra! Table scraps. Once, I began trench composting, I found I really did not need to add much else. After using homemade compost for a couple of years, I found that my soil is now chock full of earthworms and that’s always a good sign. Well, time to get back at it.

More on seed saving.

This time, I’m saving seeds from that Ambrosia cantaloupe I wrote about in an earlier blog. As far as I know, these seeds should breed true, but like everything else about saving seeds from one harvest to another, I won’t know for sure until next year when I plant them out. That’s part of the fun, however! (I can never seem to quite get over how such a small little thing like a seed can bring forth a fruit that is so fulfilling to the soul. Just another one of God's miracles that surround us each day).

The melon I got these seeds from was the second on the single vine that is still growing in one of my raised beds. I’ve read a few reports that indicate Ambrosia’s may be hard to bring to maturity. (Some articles have indicated that fruit set can be flaky and, even when fruit would appear, they often shrivel and die). The fruit that did make it on my vine were small and green when young, but then matured to look like a regular cantaloupe after a couple of months.

After harvesting, I cut the melon in half and scooped out the seeds and pulp onto a paper towel. I then separated the seeds out and put them on a plate in the sun. I wanted to get them dried as quickly as possible and this time of year what with temps in the low nineties the plate thing seemed the way to go.

Once they had few hours to dry, I collected them from the plate. There were 40 seeds and, as you can see in the picture, looked to be pretty healthy (for a seed anyway). One word of advice is to make sure you pre-wash the seeds to remove as much of the pulp as possible, otherwise you will have an ant magnet. (I found that out the hard way). After they had dried pretty much over the course of a few hours, I gave them another quick rinse in water and replaced the seeds on a new paper towel. After another couple of more hours in the sun, I checked to make sure they were dry. I then placed them first into a small brown envelope and then into a small plastic baggie to seal out dampness. As with all seeds the most important aspect to saving them is to keep them away from moisture. From there the seeds went to the bottom shelf of my refrigerator where they will stay cool and moisture free until next spring. Note: If you can’t wait for half a year to find out if the seed is viable, then hold back a few and germinate them in a damp towel inside a baggie.

I plan to reserve a few to send to anyone who might want them. First come first served!

Seed saving can be a challenge!

My fellow gardeners and not a few books I’ve read over time all have extolled the virtues of saving seed from each year’s harvest. They cite how cost effective this approach is and how it is one way to preserve heirloom strains. OK, but there are some challenges!

While saving seed may save a few dollars it does not always work with hybrid seeds and that is generally the most of what I plant in my garden. Second, I have spent no small amount of time getting the soil in my raised beds in shape. (I started out years ago with what was essentially river bottom muck and then, over time along with the addition of amendments, have increased both the soil fertility and tilth). Come spring, I want to be sure that I have the best seed possible to plant. I’m not sure what I’ll get if I go with seed recovered from a previous year’s crop, especially if I used hybrid seeds. OK, so that was then. Now is now, and since as I will soon be working on articles concerning self sufficiency and survival, I thought I would give the seed saving thing a go.

My first candidate this season was the seeds from a Long Red Cayenne pepper. This plant was grown from seed purchase from Burpee Seed. I noted that the package made no mention of the word ‘hybrid’ so I’ll assume that the seed will produce true to the variety.

I waited until the pepper was ripe before harvesting both it and the seeds it contained. One of the uncertainties in my mind is whether or not the seed is viable. (I guess I could test germinate some, but pepper seeds take forever and who has the time)? Once harvested you must then make sure to dry them properly and seal them away from moisture and excess heat until next season. That generally means putting them into airtight baggies stored in the bottom of the fridge. I am planning on doing this for other veggies including; green beans, cucumbers and tomatoes. See you all in a few!