Hello all, RON L here
The question of folks, seed stocks and grows of Plants in winter might seem a little odd? I've had time to reflect on my preps and despite some positive turns in our finances, it's tough going! I know many folks feel the same way and live day to day, month to month in their personal lives as well as their spendng habits?
How to get Good, solid seed stock that non-Hybrid, self sustaining and can be a start of a way to become even more self sufficient and independent of catalogs, extra dollars spent and with an investment in time and skills that one day might save your family!
I have always bought produce at Road side stands, Flea markets and farmers Markets, the quality is better and I like the idea of supporting local growers. As well, the prices are good and fresh is always better.
With the Ice and snow here and perhaps too much time on my hands, I though, how to extend my seed stocks of Crops and produce I like and use a lot in our cooking and meals. With all the local farmers markets closed and ditto any Flea markets or Roadside stands, I had to think outside the box. Buying my Produce at Wal-mart, Kroegers or Aldis and many other food markets. I saw this as a way to duplicate what other would do and do in their weekly shopping sprees?
I gathered Bell peppers, Hot Peppers, Romanao as well as a few different tomatoes! I used the Flesh of the Vegetables for our meals but made it a point to remove the seeds from the Peppers, and Tomatoes to save.
How to save the seeds, not let them rot or ruin, and how to harvest them? A use of Bing as well as few other search engines, showed how many seed companies gather seed year to year for sale and saving. I duplicated the Process with Wax paper as well as Paper towns, Newspaper ands other low cost recyclable material. I as well, saved many different Metal cans, as well as other disposable containers food came in to use as vessels to grow the seedlings.
I Spread the Seed and pulp from the Tomatoes as well as the peppers and laid them out to dry. Not wanting blow the save by being too impatient, I set them on a shelf in the laundry room and on wash day used the heat and drying action of that room to dry out the seed masses.
Once dried the wax paper was easier, but I also used seeds spread out on Paper towels to dry, see PIC #1 :
As you can see, this Laid them out so they could be seen and identified from the vegetable pump, this was easier on the peppers than the tomatoes! Using a dull knife, as well as my Fingernails I gently scraped the seeds present on the sheet in PIC #1 and dumped them into a small Container to save, see
Once that was One, I used many different containers sizes, shapes and sizes, mostly what ever food stuffs we used they serve as the base for the seedling growing process! Then, a sunny window area became the base for my widow box gardein grow,
See
PIC # 5
Pic # 6
Pic # 7
Pic # 8
As you can see, all I did was add Potting soil (Enriched with Miracle Grow Solution for faster grow and let nature, the sun and time do it's thing? I will add more PICS of the Grow to this thread till they produce flowering buds and fruit, or bust out? Either way, it cost me little, but time and some effort and should be a solid base for next summers crops?
You can do it many different ways and I'm not saying mine is perfect or the only way! Try it yourself and see what I mean, Prepping need not cost ya major MONEY! It's a Lifestle not a bank account?
PICS #6 - 7- 8 AND LATER ARE FULL GROWN pLANTS FROM SEED AS WELL AS SOME cOMFREY AND ALL THAT I BOUGHT AS ROOTINGS, THIS CAN BE DONE AND I WILL FURTHER ADD MORE PICS AND WHAT THE PRODUCE LOOKS LIKE ONCE THEY FLOWER AND PRODUCE!
Seed Gathering and Grow Experiment Cont
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