Intro to Seed Saving

Do you want to save seeds from this year’s garden? Seed saving is easier than you might think! It just takes a little time to gather the seeds and a little space to process them. Follow the links throughout this introductory article to learn more.

Tomato Seeds
Tomatoes are a popular seed-saving choice and a good place to start. For tomato seeds, you will need a pint sized canning jar (with its ring) and a piece of paper towel large enough to cover the top. You will also want to have a sharp knife, a spoon, a fork, and a cutting board. Finally, you’ll need a  paper towel for drying, labeling paper, and an envelope to store your dry seeds.

The process starts while your tomatoes are still growing on the vine. Choose the tomato that you want to save seeds from and remember no to pick it. It will need to  continue to grow till it is just past its ripened state  before you cut it off the vine. The next steps are to cut it in half, scoop out the insides into the pint jar and add water until it is half to two thirds full. Using the fork, mash/puree the seed mixture in the jar till it is all separated. Swirl the jar to see if the mix is even. Put the paper towel over the top and fasten it in place with the ring. Let the jar sit on your kitchen counter where you can watch it and swirl it at least once a day for the first two to three days. Let it sit then until it develops a fuzzy moldy looking top. Then add a little more water, swirl, and then let it sit for a minute or so, so the heavy viable seeds settle to the bottom. You can use the fork to lift out and dispose of the slime from the top. Add water, swirl, and let it sit again, then pour off the top mixture leaving the seeds on the bottom. You may have to do this several times until clear water and seeds on the bottom are all that remain. Then pour off the water and dump the seeds on your drying towel. Once they are dry, place them in a labeled and dated envelope and store them in a cool, dry place until you’re ready to plant them next season.

Pepper Seeds
Peppers (Bell, Jalapeno, Poblano, Anaheim, etc.) are another popular seed-saving choice. Just as described above, you want to choose the pepper that you like and want to grow again next year. Cut the pepper open so you can remove the seeds. Put the seeds on a paper towel to dry. Make sure you label your seeds. When they are dry, usually in a couple weeks, soak them in water for a day or so. The seeds that sink to the bottom are your most viable seeds, these are the ones you want to save.

Tomatoes and peppers are a great place to start, but you can save seeds from all of your favorite plants, with a little research. Seed Sowing and Seed Saving, written by Carole Turner, is a good book on how to save seeds and plant them. Also consider your local University of Idaho County Extension Office, your local library, and your favorite bookstore.

 

The advantage of saving seeds from your garden is that you know they grow well in the microclimate of your garden. You also save money and get the satisfaction of being self-sufficient. Seed-saving year after year is called Landrace seed saving and planting. If you have extra seeds, share with your friends or join a local seed bank. 

Pet-Safe Gardening this Fall

What do Lilies, Tulips, Azaleas, and Daffodils have in common besides being favorites in the garden? They are toxic to pets.

Keep your pets in mind when planning your garden!  You will both be much happier with the end result. There are tons of options when it comes to mulch, plants, and pest management, but some of those options are deadly to your pets.

The ASPCA has a highly inclusive list of toxic and non-toxic plants for dogs, cats, and horses too. Penn State has some really good ideas for pet-scaping and pet friendly gardens. Most importantly, do your research and plan before putting anything in your garden.

Kelly McGowan, horticulture specialist with MU Extension, talks about keeping dogs like Buddy safe around plants in this short video.

Roasted Tomato Sauce Preservation the EASY Way!

 It’s that wonderful time of year, when we are beyond the scorching hot days of our summer and we’ve settled into the 90s. This is also the time when tomatoes come on with a fury! If you’ve planted many varieties, as so many of us do, then it’s almost a sprint to keep up with the daily harvest. As an advanced Master Gardener and advanced Master Food Safety Advisor with the University of Idaho Extension program, I’m always looking for the quick and easy way to use what comes from my garden.

I’ve grown it. Now…what? Many years ago, I made and water bath canned my own tomato sauce. It was a lot of work. Since then, I’ve procured the mother of all freezers and now, what I would have canned years ago, I freeze. This way, I have the fresh taste of my garden, all year round. And, the bonus is, I know exactly what goes into what I freeze.

Making and freezing the sauce begins as soon as I have enough tomatoes for a batch. You can use any variety and any size of tomato. I’ll wash, core and quarter the big ones. The Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes, (that I’m so fond of) go into this procedure, whole.

I have peeled garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper at hand. Often, I’ll tuck basil leaves under the tomatoes, if my plan is to make the base for a drop-dead-delicious marinara sauce.

I’ll use a small pan, if I have a smaller batch. I’ll save energy and roast the tomatoes in my toaster oven. Conversely, I’ll use a large restaurant size pan when roasting in my larger, convection oven.

Once I’ve filled the pan with tomatoes, garlic and (sometimes) basil, I drizzle a very conservative amount of olive oil on top. This year, I’ll use a pump atomizer to coat the ingredients with oil, I think it will be more effective and cut down on the amount of oil used. If you use fresh basil, tuck it under the tomatoes, as it can tend to burn during the roasting process.

I pop the entire pan into a preheated, 400° oven and set a timer for 20-minutes. I use this time to revel in the glory of the smells that come from the oven…even opening a window to entice neighbors. I will also tidy my work space during the roasting time. After 20 minutes, I check for signs of roasting. Look for small char marks on the tomatoes and garlic. Check for tenderness in the tomatoes.

Now, I’m in the home stretch! After removing the pan from the oven and letting it cool to touch, I’ll put the contents of it in my blender. I whiz it until it’s pureed.

The next step is not entirely necessary. But, I do it to achieve a velvety smooth consistency. I pour the mixture through a wider gauge strainer to catch any seed or skins that didn’t get blended. This step really does kick it up a notch in terms of quality. Because the skin stayed on the tomatoes during the entire process, there are still plenty of vitamins in the sauce.

I put my sauce in freezer-safe containers with ½ inch head space (for possible freezing expansion), and I label EXACTLY what I added to the mix. This way, I know if I’ll use the sauce for stews, chili, Italian or Mexican recipes. Plus, nothing goes in my freezer without a date. Try to use the sauce within a year’s time.  

The quality of the sauce really holds up with this procedure. The other night, I made homemade pizza. The container I thawed (from my 2016 harvest) was a bit thin for pizza sauce. I simply put the contents in a saucepan and added a small amount of cornstarch. In minutes, I had thick, delicious homemade pizza sauce. The results were delectable!

Let my kids help in the garden? Why not?

Share your love and passion for gardening with your kids by bringing them into the garden to discover the pleasure of growing food. Gardening may be the solution for parents struggling to find ways to encourage their kids to eat a healthy and balanced diet. Allowing your child to pick fresh produce from your garden will increase their desire to eat fresh vegetables. Tomatoes warm from the sun are delicious. My son loved green onions and once harvested and ate an entire row! Fresh peas are so delicious.

 

Give them a small piece of ground that is their own, along with gardening tools and gloves. Provide instruction on how to plant seeds and plants. Show them the flowers, bugs, worms, and growing plants. Let them dig a hole and plant something!

Show your child the difference between weeds and plants, pull and cultivate weeds, water, fertilize and care for their plants. Don’t forget to show them the importance of bugs in the ecology of gardening. Observe the bees and teach them about making honey and pollination of plants.

Kids who participated in gardening projects scored higher in science achievement than those who did not. Seeing a garden grow may spark your kids to ask questions like: Why do the plants need sun? How does the plant “drink” water? Why are worms good for the plants? Why are spiders needed in the garden? The questions your kids will ask will provide plenty of subjects for discussion.

Why do we have so many earwigs this year?

Why do we have so many earwigs this year? Haven't we heard this every year? Well for one thing it has been a wet and slightly warmer spring. These weather conditions have made better than ideal living and growing media for the earwig. They like wet damp hiding places and with a little mulch or loose compost to hide in during the day.

How to identify good earwigs from bad earwigs.
They are all the same so to speak. They are opportunistic eaters. They live on dead decaying matter, eat aphids and other small prey and love young growth of certain plants, like Marigolds. This is shown in the picture with all the cans full of earwigs and decimated marigold plants. The shallow cans were placed next to plants that the earwigs thought were the most tasty.
Simple home remedies can be used to lower the earwigs population.  There are quite a few methods you can use depending on your preference and patience. I prefer a little beer in a small cat food can but there other preparations you can put in the cans. Since they prowl at night, they hide during the day. Place burlap bags, boards, newspapers or other materials on the ground, then daily collect individuals that congregate under the cover and discard.

Predatory insects help control the earwigs. Believe it or not, there are other insects and animals that prey on the earwigs. Since the earwigs are nocturnal, hungry birds have to hunt them out in their hiding places during the day. Evening birds and amphibians will be able to find them out and about in the duff on their favorite plants. Knowing the life cycle will help you manage earwigs!

 

Bindweed - Beauty or Pest?

(Convolvulus arvensis, origins from Eurasia)

Field Bindweed likes nooks and crannies and wraps around plants as it reaches upward on taller plants.  A perennial broadleaf with creeping and twining stems, it is considered a noxious weed and one of the hardest to control.

Often mistakenly called Creeping Jenny or wild morning glory, it reproduces from seed and creeping underground rhizomes (underground stems) that can reach deeper than 20 feet but 70% of its root mass is in the top 2 feet of soil. Flowers are a pretty pink to white with arrowhead shaped leaves. Unfortunately any time a root is cut, it creates more roots and then leaves and blooms. Field bindweed likes disturbed soils. If a field bindweed plant should appear: 1. Remove seedlings as soon as they emerge. 2. Remove plants before they flower. 3. Remove flowering plants before they set seed...and keep cultivating as new plants emerge!

Control methods:

Cultural- Growing bunch grass or legumes to help choke it out or other tall shade producing plants assists control.  Mechanical control is cultivation every three weeks for 2 years during the growing season. Clear plastic is recommended, known as soil sterilization or fabric weed barrier can help by keeping from sunlight.

Biological- The bindweed mite, Aceria malherbae, is a microscopic mite that feeds on field bindweed. This process is being tried but takes years to see results. 

Chemical- Fall is the best time of year to control it as it moves the herbicides into the roots. Some are: 2,4-D for lawns but for long term, systemic herbicides can be used such as dicamba and picloram, glyphosates are a couple that work better in fields and pastures. It is important to read and follow all precautions before applying any of these herbicides. But if you wait until fall, it has already gone to seed and spread all over. Treat it as soon as you see it.

Idaho Weed Awareness has an excellent list of all noxious weeds for Idaho - check it out along with Field Bindweed.

Grow a Tea Garden for Year-Round Tea

During the heat of summer, we dream of crisp fall evenings with a steaming mug of home-grown tea, made from the dried leaves and buds of some of the season’s most beautiful floral displays. With a little know-how and pre-planning, growing a tea garden can enable you to make your own blend of tea year-round. Here are some wonderful tea options and tips for growing them properly:

Lavender (Lavendula angustifolia): (Buds are used for tea.) Lavender is fairly simple to care for, can provide a beautiful addition to your landscape, and attract beneficial pollinators. English lavender is cold hard to Zone 5, can bloom twice in a single season, and is considered drought tolerant. Preferring full sun and alkaline soils, lavender needs to be pruned annually after the plant has been established. The plants have very few pests or disease problems. However, they can be susceptible to soil diseases such as Phytophthora, so it is important to water carefully and not create standing water around the plant. Harvest the flowers and buds for drying when they are one-third to fully open and hang them in a cool, airy, shaded room. To make a relaxing lavender tea, combine hot water with fresh or dried buds, then steep until you reach your desired flavor. For a bit of sweetness, add a few drops of honey.

Mint (Mentha sp.): (Leaves are used for tea.) There are several mint varieties to choose from, each providing a unique flavor to brewed tea. Spearmint makes a soothing tea, while peppermint makes a sweeter tea. A visit to a local nursery will likely present you with choices like apple mint, chocolate mint, and orange mint. A very hardy, prolific plant, mint can quickly take over surrounding garden and landscape areas. To keep this eager spreader under control, try growing it in containers or confining it to a bed with metal or plastic edging. Harvest the leaves and dry them in summer, then steep dried leaves for tea year-round. Iced mint tea can be very refreshing during hot months, and warm mint tea is soothing in fall and winter.

Calendula: (Petals are used for tea.) A member of the daisy family, these beautiful yellow and orange flowers add long-lasting color to any flower bed or container. Their frost tolerance, somewhat cold, hardy nature, and propensity to draw aphids away from other garden plants make them great companion plants for many of those well-loved vegetables growing nearby. Simply pour hot water over the dried flowers and let steep to your desired flavor intensity.

Lemon balm ((Melissa officinalis): (Leaves are used for tea.) Adding a lovely, gentle lemon flavor, lemon balm is an easy-to-grow perennial, that tolerates full sun to partial shade and produces delicate white, pale yellow, or pink flowers. Though, if you are interested in controlling this prolific plant, pruning to ensure that it does not set and drop seed is key. Combined with other dried ingredients, including oat straw, rose hip, orange peel, and lavender, a cup of lemon balm tea can lift the mood on a cloudy, rainy fall day.

Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile): (Buds are used for tea.) From June to August, the tiny, delicate daisies of chamomile are a wonderful perennial addition to any garden scape. Hardy to Zone 3, and loving light, dry soil, chamomile is fairly easy to grow. Two of the most common chamomiles used for tea are German chamomile (Matricaria recutita) and Roman chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile). Fresh chamomile buds can be combined with boiling water, apple slices, and a bit of honey for a calming, warm hug on those crisp fall evenings.

For educational purposes only. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.