Saving seed and sowing for the autumn

Some seed gets saved, some gets sown

This time of the year there isn't as much to do as back in the spring, and more time to be outside enjoying the flowers and the food, but there are still some jobs I can do. I have started saving seed of my favourite annual flowers to sow again next year in spring. This is really easy, and because I've done it for three years already I know which seeds work better in my garden (that is, the seed is easy to save and the plants will flower in my shady garden in pots).

I always keep seed of calendula: simply leave some flowers dry out in the plant and then cut the whole dry head (it has lots of curved dry bits, each of one is a seed). Nigella is also very easy to pick: it produces a papery ball full of the little black seeds, if you let it dry you can pick the ball whole. Other seeds I save are: nasturtium, tagetes (french marigold), purple wallflowers (matthiola incana) and honesty (these two are biennials - you sow them this summer for flowers next year). And rocket leaves (I left one corner of it go to flower).  Today I have saved some dry flowers of cosmos for the first time: I sowed some seed I bought this past spring for the first time and it's been a huge success, so now I want to see if I can take it a step further and also save my own seed for next year!

Once you've picked the seed pods or flower heads, they need to dry out completely before you can store the seed away - otherwise they'll rot. I put them in paper bags (you can see a couple in the photo) and hang them from the ceiling of the shed. After a month or so, when they're dry, I will put them in paper envelopes until next spring.

Another thing I'm doing now is keep sowing plants for the autumn. I have sowed the plugs you see in the photo with turnip tops ('grelos' is the local name from Galicia, where I come from) an spinach. These two, if they get big enough and established before it gets too cold and dark, should keep during the most of the winter, although I fear I may have left it too late and they won't have enough summer left, but we'll see.

En agosto hay menos que hacer que en primavera, y mas tiempo para disfrutar de todas las flores y cosechas, pero hay un par de trabajos que si hay que hacer ahora: recoger semilla para el ano que viene, y sembrar para cosechas en otono. Las semillas de flores anuales son facilisimas de recoger, el unico truco es esperar a que las flores se sequen y cortarlas! Yo las pongo en bolsas de papel para que se sequen, las tengo colgadas del techo de la caseta. Dentro de un mes, cuando esten completamente secas, las pondre en sobres hasta la primavera que viene.


Despues de tres anos sembrando flores y guardando semilla, ya se cuales funcionan mejor (y cuales dan flor en las macetas y la sombra de mi jardin). Siempre guardo semilla de: calendula, tagetes, nigella damascena (pincha aqui para ver una foto), lunaria y alhelies morados (estas dos ultimas son bianuales, se siembran este verano y dan flores el ano que viene). Este ano voy a probar por primera vez a guardar semilla de cosmos, porque esta primavera pasada sembre semilla comprada y se han dado de maravilla!


La otra labor del dia ha sido sembrar para cosechar en otono. He sembrado, en las celulas que veis en la foto,  grelos y espinacas. No se si les dara tiempo de crecer lo suficiente antes de que llegue el frio y los dias cortos, deberia de haberlos plantado a principios de mes, pero a ver que pasa.