The Manual of Seed Saving : Harvesting, Storing, and Sowing Techniques for Vegetables, Herbs, and Fruits

Growing vegetables, fruits, and herbs from seed has many benefits for both the gardener and the planet. Seed saving helps gardeners maintain important regional varieties that are well suited for specific conditions, encourages plant diversity, and helps promote plants with the best texture, flavor, and variety. The Manual of Seed Saving is an authoritative guide from experts around the globe. Supported by research from the global conservation organizations Arche Noah and Pro Specie Rara, it features information on how to maximize seed quality and yield for more than 100 crop plants. It includes popular market plants like asparagus, carrots, corn, rhubarb, spinach, squash, and tomatoes. Plant profiles include critical information on pollination, isolation distances, cultivation, harvest, storage, and pests and diseases. The Manual of Seed Saving is an essential reference for all food producers including vegetable growers, market gardeners, and farmers. This Comprehensive Guide To Saving Vegetable Seeds Contains The Kind Of High-level, Technical Information Needed By Market Gardeners And Self- Sufficiency Practitioners To Refine Their Seed Saving Techniques. With Rising Seed Prices And Increasing Demand For Heirloom Varieties, The Carefully Trialled And Reliable Techniques Detailed In This Book Will Allow Producers To Develop Their Product Lines; They Will Be Able To Deliver Improved Flavours And Textures To Consumers. Why Propagate Your Own Vegetable Seed? -- On Crop Diversity -- Seed Gardening 101 -- Amaranth (amaranthaceae) -- Artichoke And Relatives (asteraceae) -- Asparagus (asparagaceae) -- Brassicas (brassicaceae) -- Carrot And Relatives (apiaceae) -- Chinese Mallow, Curled Mallow (malvaceae) -- Corn And Relatives (poaceae) -- Corn Salad, Lamb's Lettuce, Mâche (valerianaceae) -- Flax, Linseed (linaceae) -- Legumes (fabaceae) -- Malabar Spinach, Climbing Spinach (basellaceae) -- Mints, Chinese Artichoke (lamiaceae) -- New Zealand Spinach (aizoaceae) -- Onions (amaryllidaceae) -- Poppyseed (papaveraceae) -- Purslane, Miner's Lettuce (portulacaceae) -- Rhubarb And Relatives (polygonaceae) -- Spinach And Relatives (chenopodiaceae) -- Squash (cucurbitaceae) -- Tomato And Relatives (solanaceae) -- Sources Of Seed And Equipment. Andrea Heistinger In Association With Arche Noah, Pro Specie Rara ; Translated By Ian Miller. Translation Of: Handbuch Samengärtnerei. Sorten Erhalten. Vielfalt Vermehren. Gemüse Geniessen. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. “Makes it easy to find information in a snap, on most any edible you want to grow.” —Kylee Baumle, Horticulture Growing vegetables, fruits, and herbs from seed has many benefits for both the gardener and the planet. Why save seeds when you can buy them so cheap? Not only does seed saving allow you to grow a diverse, organic array of fruits and vegetables, it also offers an opportunity to work closely with nature and be even more hands-on with the food you grow, cook, and eat. Supported by research from the global conservation organizations Arche Noah and Pro Specie Rara, The Manual of Seed Saving features information on how to maximize seed quality and yield for crop plants like asparagus, carrots, corn, rhubarb, spinach, squash, and tomatoes. Plant profiles include critical information on pollination, isolation distances, cultivation, harvest, storage, and pests and diseases. This authoritative guide brings together the experience of experts in the field who have found, through careful trialing, how to reliably maximize seed quality and yield for more than 100 crop plants. Clear information on such critical issues as pollination, isolation distances, cultivation, harvest, storage, and pests and diseases is provided. The Manual of Seed Saving is an essential reference for all food producers from vegetable growers to small-scale farmers.--COVER. As small-scale gardens and farms continue to pop up in back yards and on balconies, food growers are embracing the process by planting, preserving, and pickling their produce. Now this guide offers the expertise needed to carry that sensibility even further to practice seed saving