Saving seeds : the gardener's guide to growing and saving vegetable and flower seeds

Gardeners are rediscovering the time-honored tradition of seed saving. By growing and storing your own seeds, you can save money; use seeds from plants that have thrived in your particular growing conditions; preserve your favorite strains of vegetables and flowers; and share seeds with family, friends, and neighbors. Marc Rogers offers everything you need to know to successfully raise, harvest, and store seeds for a lifetime of productive gardens. Read more... Abstract: Gardeners are rediscovering the time-honored tradition of seed saving. By growing and storing your own seeds, you can save money; use seeds from plants that have thrived in your particular growing conditions; preserve your favorite strains of vegetables and flowers; and share seeds with family, friends, and neighbors. Marc Rogers offers everything you need to know to successfully raise, harvest, and store seeds for a lifetime of productive gardens Content: ""Cover"" ""Contents"" ""PART I: BASIC INFORMATION"" ""CHAPTER 1 Why Raise Seeds?"" ""CHAPTER 2 What Is a Seed?"" ""CHAPTER 3 How Seeds Are Formed"" ""CHAPTER 4 Annuals, Biennials, and Perennials"" ""CHAPTER 5 Pollination"" ""CHAPTER 6 Selecting Seed Parents"" ""CHAPTER 7 Collecting Seeds"" ""CHAPTER 8 Extracting and Drying Seeds"" ""CHAPTER 9 Storing Seeds"" ""CHAPTER 10 Testing Seeds"" ""PART II: THE VEGETABLES"" ""TABLE I: Characteristics of Common Vegetables Saved for Seed"" ""Monocotyledoneae"" ""POACEAE: (Grass Family)"" ""LILIACEAE: (Lily Family)"" ""Dicotyledoneae"" ""POLYGONACEAE: (Buckwheat or Rhubarb Family)""""CHENOPODIACEAE: (Goosefoot Family)"" ""TETRAGONIACEAE: (New Zealand Spinach Family)"" ""BRASSICACEAE: (Mustard or Cabbage Family)"" ""FABACEAE: (Bean Family)"" ""MALVACEAE: (Mallow Family)"" ""APIACEAE: (Celery Family)"" ""SOLANACEAE: (Nightshade Family)"" ""CUCURBITACEAE: (Gourd or Cucumber Family)"" ""ASTERACEAE: (Aster Family)"" ""TABLE II: A Checklist of Some Seed-Borne Vegetable Diseases"" ""PART III: THE FLOWERS"" ""The Best Flowering Ornamentals to Save for Seed"" ""Ageratum"" ""Alyssum, Sweet"" ""Amaranthus"" ""Aster, China""""Baby's-Breath"" ""Bachelor's-Button"" ""Balsam, Garden"" ""Bean, Scarlet Runner"" ""Belh-of-Ireland"" ""Borage"" ""Cabbage, Flowering"" ""Calendula"" ""Candytuft, Globe"" ""Canterbury-Bells"" ""Celosia"" ""Chrysanthemum"" ""Clarkia"" ""Cosmos"" ""Coreopsis, Golden"" ""Daisy, English"" ""Daisy, Gloriosa"" ""Daisy, Swan River"" ""Flax, Flowering"" ""Forget-Me-Not"" ""Four-O'Clock"" ""Foxglove"" ""Gaillardia"" ""Hollyhock"" ""Honesty"" ""Kale, Flowering"" ""Larkspur, Annual"" ""Lobelia, Annual"" ""Love-in-a-Mist"" ""Lupine, Dwarf"" ""Mallow, Rose"" ""Marigold""""Morning-Glory"" ""Moss Rose"" ""Nasturtium"" ""Pansy"" ""Petunia"" ""Phlox, Annual"" ""Pink"" ""Poppy, California"" ""Poppy, Opium"" ""Poppy, Shirley"" ""Rocket, Sweet or Dame's"" ""Salpiglossis"" ""Salvia"" ""Scabious, Sweet"" ""Snapdragon"" ""Snow-on-the-Mountain"" ""Spider Flower"" ""Stock"" ""Sunflower"" ""Sweet Pea"" ""Sweet William"" ""Tobacco, Flowering"" ""Verbena"" ""Wallflower"" ""Zinnia"" ""Mail-Order Seed Sources"" ""Further Reading"" ""Glossary for Gardeners"" ""A"" ""B"" ""C"" ""D"" ""F"" ""G"" ""H"" ""I"" ""L"" ""M"" ""N"" ""P""""R"" ""S"" ""Average Frost Date Maps"" Enjoy a delicious bounty of heirloom vegetables every year. Marc Rogers guides you through the time-honored and cost-effective tradition of collecting seeds from this year's harvest to grow next year's crop. Learn how to select and store seeds from proven varieties of more than 100 common vegetables and flowers. Through saving seeds and growing heirloom plants you'll not only have a thriving garden every summer, you'll be saving money and preserving local flavors at the same time.