SG590: How to Save Seed with Cheryl Moore-Gough
Seed Saver Extraordinaire and co-author of The Complete Guide to Saving Seeds: 322 Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, Flowers, Trees, and Shrubs, Cheryl Moore-Gough is on the show today. Cheryl is going to help us learn how to save our seeds to use in next year’s garden, to share with our fellow gardeners, or to donate to the community through our local seed libraries.
Experienced gardeners know that saving seed is one more excellent skill to have in your garden tote (so to speak), and it also can make gardening even more budget-wise. Saving seed means you can play breeder as well - picking your very best plants for seed harvesting - and slowly improving your resident plants by selecting seed based on taste, productivity and hardiness.
I started saving seed with two beautiful ornamental annuals in my garden. The first was Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena), the other was spider flower or cleome. Once you figure out how to save seed from your favorite plants, you won’t believe the impact on your garden (and your budget!) Like many other aspects of gardening, when the skill of saving seeds becomes part of your repertoire, you’ll find it is easily integrated into your regular activities in your garden every year: collect, grow, and repeat.
With the summer of 2017 fading into memory, my final visits to the garden include gathering ripe seed - lettuce, cosmos, coriander, and nasturtiums. For me, the key is to have a few ziploc bags to keep my collections straight - along with a pen to label the bags! (Don’t forget to tuck a pen in your apron!)
If you’re ready to start saving seed, there a number of excellent resources are available today. One of the most popular, and favorite references remains the book Cheryl Moore-Gough wrote with her husband, Robert, back in 2011 simply called, The Complete Guide to Saving Seeds: 322 Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, Flowers, Trees, and Shrubs.
Preserve your favorite tastes and scents, customize your garden plants, and promote diversity with the important skill of seed saving. Let’s learn from today’s expert guest: Cheryl Moore-Gough.
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I never write reviews but this is the best gardening podcast out there. Jennifer has interesting topics and guests and is not one bit annoying like some others are. I love that she involves her kids at the end of the podcast - usually with poetry or music. Really good podcast.
- Barbcfc, Mar 23, 2016
Still Growing is one of the reliably informative gardening podcasts from North America. The format consists of an intro (personal gardening status chat, seasonal remarks), an extended interview with a guest, and an outro with funny outtakes, side remarks, and some chatter (poems, readings) from the host's children. The podcast is focused on reliable knowledge - the guests are typically experts like academics, master gardeners, gardening entrepreneurs or public garden leaders. The intro and especially the outro give it a homey feel. Given I live in the high northern region, just a little below the Polar Circle, I'm always looking for more cold-weather oriented gardening information. Jennifer Ebeling is in Minnesota, so that's helpful to me! Vegetable gardening (my main interest) gets a good share, but is not predominant. Most topics transcend your specific gardening interest and are applicable to many styles: landscaping principles, vermicomposting, greenhouses. The episodes are typically an hour long, which is just fine for me.
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Best gardening podcast out there. Her preparedness leads to a good interaction with the guests and brings out the best in them. Very informative and yet personable.
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This is a great podcast. Really well produced and organized with good sound quality. I love the mix of information and personal touches. Jennifer has great guests and asks the best questions. You can tell she really does her homework. I listen to several gardening podcasts and this is my absolute favorite!
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