Transcript
Alexis: Welcome to Whore Culture. We're live on the scene. ah That's only funny if you are watching this on YouTube because I feel like, oh, well, you know, Brett, I laugh at your jokes.
Plant People: ah watching the video yeah
Brett: even Even then, I don't think it's funny.
Jessica : Thank you.
Brett: That's your problem. That's one of your character flaws.
Plant People: that's not his fault
Alexis: That's like the second time today somebody was just for about or something random and be like, that sounds like a you problem. and I was like, wow.
Jessica : Thanks.
Alexis: Okay.
Brett: I'm just kidding. It was funny.
Alexis: Yikes.
Brett: I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Alexis: And from my teammates, the reason I bring that up is because I am currently podcasting outside and I got my sunglasses on and I'm feeling very, with my mic, feeling very news anchor-y.
Brett: yeah look
Alexis: um I'm on the live on the scene of Hort Culture Podcasts today.
Brett: you look at yeah yeah You look very cool.
Jessica : You're on the scene.
Plant People: Live action.
Jessica : yeah
Brett: recent A recent cut in color that's up in, maybe just cut, it's up now, but you look ready to go.
Plant People: Some highlights.
Alexis: Recent cut?
Brett: you look ready to ready to go
Alexis: Yeah. I'm feeling um it's a vibe. ah It's a vibe and it's the perfect vibe to talk about seed saving, which is what we're doing today, folks. Talking about them seeds.
Plant People: I mean.
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: Anybody that has waited long enough to save seeds at this point, I admire you. I get so, guess I just basically, I cut my tomatoes down at a point.
Alexis: yeah but
Plant People: You know, I get so tired of them producing, I mean, or or slowly producing.
Jessica : right
Plant People: They look so ratty. I just dispatch with them. So kudos to you home gardeners that if you're seed savers, you're letting your vines and the the fruit on those vines really, really mature.
Alexis: Thank you.
Plant People: But I ah need I need to cut them down usually when they start to look bad. I don't know if it's a switch over my mind to fall or what. I don't know.
Jessica : not
Alexis: i I think of it as like, a you know, if you accidentally didn't cut it or you went away or you forgot about it, whatever. It's just for seed saving, baby. Just like with um with when all your weeds come up, it's just a cover crop. You're just going to tilt It's all fine.
Plant People: It's fine. You just mow it. It's soil erosion abatement.
Jessica : a good positive way to think about this.
Alexis: Welcome to fall, Alexis. She's just like, whatever works, man. Just call it a cover crop and roll with it.
Plant People: Let's go with it.
Jessica : this still...
Alexis: ah You forgot to harvest those flowers? Ah, that's okay. You left it for the pollinators and they left you with some seed that you're going to now save.
Plant People: Self-seeding.
Alexis: so
Brett: Don't call it a cover crop.
Jessica : That's right.
Brett: been there for years.
Plant People: Been there taking care of itself all this time. And and that's what plants do. i was i was ah so, um I guess, inspired when I was younger because I noticed these tomatoes, you know, they were just where we had the tomato patches a year before, if especially if we rotated away from it.
Plant People: I mean, I was like, where are all these baby plants the next year coming from? Nobody seeded them here.
Alexis: and
Plant People: And my dad's like, that's just nature at work. And I guess there's a lot of truth to that.
Jessica : Life finds a way, right?
Plant People: ah Life finds a way. So I'm like, I mean, um if mother nature can do it, how hard could it be? Oh, was I wrong?
Alexis: ia I occasionally get some compost and it'll have you know some tomato seeds in it from wherever.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: And I always let one... i dig it up and I pot it or I put it in my garden or whatever just to see what it does. And it's a great example of... um
Plant People: Not coming back to her just now?
Alexis: you know These random seedling and what it becomes versus like what I've planted.
Plant People: Hmm.
Alexis: of and that's like of seed saving. One of the things is you don't always get back what you think you're going to get.
Jessica : Right.
Jessica : Right. So, you know, why do we want to you know, keep the seeds and stuff, right? Like we think about that. One, you might have a tasty tomato that you discover, but there's some rules with seed saving as we've already kind of talked about, but like we want to keep these seeds because, you know, maybe it's something that has been passed in our families for a year.
Jessica : They can be very, um, like how a fairly, ah fairly, a family heirloom. Right. And that kind of plays into the kind of seeds you want to keep like the heirloom seeds.
Brett: Literally.
Plant People: That's a big one.
Brett: Oh.
Jessica : Like, Ooh, look at that. Thanks.
Brett: I like that.
Jessica : Okay.
Brett: yeah yeah know I think, you know and and maybe people are aware or they're not aware, but like Kentucky has a huge heirloom seed tradition um across the state, but I think a lot of people are maybe are more familiar with the the eastern part of the state having about a variety of different crops.
Plant People: Yeah. People take a lot of pride in that, I think.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: So yeah, I think that's... That's a but we were out, um you know, there's been some flooding in the eastern part of the state over the last off and on for the last half a decade, basically.
Brett: And one of the things that was really sad was that a lot of people lost their family saved seeds.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: And there's been some efforts from folks out there at the Robinson Station station um that hopefully we'll have some guests on from there in the next few years. I mean, the next few weeks. lamb
Jessica : Thank you.
Brett: But ah they were trying to grow seeds, basically grow seed to save to then redistribute out to the community there um to get that heirloom process going again.
Brett: So I think that's a hugely important part.
Plant People: Super cool. And there's so much pride behind families, you know, whether it was an apple tree that somebody did not know what the variety was, or it was a unique variety that a family named, or whether it was a favorite purple tomato or greasy bean and all of their variations.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: i mean, there's a lot of pride that families and individuals took in these unique, you know, fruits and vegetables ah that they kind of claimed as protected and and brought forward one generation to the next.
Plant People: It's really cool, the history behind some of these.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: And I know, yes, there's a story behind those.
Alexis: Telling a story.
Jessica : Mm-hmm. huh
Plant People: And I know Tennessee and some of the Carolinas and areas, ah Brett mentioned specifically the Appalachian region or mountainous regions. They have a long history of that, but just history across the state of Kentucky in doing that. I think it's super cool because of um the care and pride that kind of goes into that. People that have brought these things forward for whatever reason.
Plant People: I know, Years ago, I can imagine 100 years ago, it was probably from a very pragmatic, kind of very practical perspective of why, yes, you absolutely had to do it.
Alexis: Mm-hmm. Had to do it.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Plant People: And that would have been at a time where there wasn't a lot of hybrids. We'll talk more about that later on, I'm sure. Wasn't a lot of hybrids. Everything was open pollinated, came back true to top. So it was, you know, you could save them and they come back with the same qualities and characteristics year after year.
Plant People: So, so cool.
Alexis: I have this year, had a seed swap, got some Celosia seed and it was just like labeled Forkland comb Celosia because it was from Forkland, Kentucky.
Plant People: So cool.
Alexis: And um I talked to the person who who brought that seed and she said, well,
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: It's just I got it from somebody else who got it from somebody else in Forkland and it's just a plan that's been coming up. So I'm expecting a very traditional old school like bright celosia color. um Originally, they were all kind of like circus colors, you know, like really obnoxious reds and stuff.
Alexis: So I'm kind of imagining something like this very traditional And um I'll post a picture of it, but I have been so pleasantly surprised and it's so exciting. And I imagine little stories when I pick it of like, you know, who, who you know, wanted this or had this in their yard.
Alexis: It's the most beautiful, like mauvey, pink, never seen this color before i'm obsessed with it and i'm gonna try and save some seed because like i have to have this forever it is the it's just the perfect shade that you don't find in catalogs and uh now i have to have it forever
Brett: Would you call it would you call it a dusty pink?
Alexis: it's It's a little more burgundy than that, but it's in that like spectrum of dusty pink. like So if you if you go a little bit deeper, a little more darker, then yeah, it's it's like right in there. And i I have been just in awe of of what it looks like. And I just got it at a sweet seed swap.
Alexis: So it's fun.
Jessica : Yeah. Saving seeds can be fun and you can get some like cool things like that. Right. I mean, right.
Alexis: Use your imagination. You make up little stories as you pick it.
Jessica : Right.
Brett: Well, why else?
Plant People: Or give it unique names and make it your own.
Brett: i'm i'm yeah I'm not familiar with the other like some of the other – I've mainly been aware of the socioccultural the sociocultural reasons for sharing – or for saving seed.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah.
Alexis: you
Brett: do there other like Do other people do it for other reasons besides it's cool?
Alexis: um Besides it's cool. I mean, that's how we got a lot of the varieties that we have and is, is, you know, seeds. Even if you think about like um I always, of course, go back to flowers, but peonies, ah what people all the breeding to this very day being done in peonies is from people crossing them and then they save that seed and grow that seed out. And so we we see that with tomatoes. We see that with just about everything.
Alexis: um There's very, there are plenty, there are fruits and things like that that have come from sports, which is just like the plant magically creates something like literally it feels like magic magically create something different.
Alexis: Like the Ruby red grapefruit is a good example of that or certain apples will do that. But I think a lot of the things we've got these days, people tend to think they're GMOs when really they're just a product of people who have saved seed and done their own little breeding projects.
Jessica : but Plant breeding. Yeah.
Plant People: yeah
Jessica : Yeah. You can see that with, um I think we look at like corn, especially corn being one of those crops that is GMO. But if you look back at what the original ears of corn looked like with crossbreeding that, you know, hundreds of years, right.
Plant People: Yeah, it didn't look like that.
Jessica : It looks very different. And that was all just, you know, breeding those plants, crossing them. So yeah.
Alexis: Oh my gosh. That's reminds me. We have a new, maybe we should have him on the podcast, a new faculty member in the department of horticulture here at UK. Um, and I can't believe I just blanked on his name.
Alexis: I got so excited to tell you about all the things he told me that I just, yes, Manoj, um, he is from Nepal.
Brett: Manoj?
Brett: Manoj? I never heard him say it.
Alexis: Yeah. He's really awesome. Uh, and he did, uh, some research. He's a plant breeder specifically for nutrition here at UK, but he's done a lot of plant breeding in the tomato world.
Alexis: And they were able to like get a hold of genomes or something from like what tomatoes were originally before humans got involved to breed them.
Jessica : Wow.
Alexis: And they were able to look at all of these different stages of like the tomato breeding And how we like how it changed, like the flavor profile changed to become what it is, what we think of tomatoes today.
Alexis: And like we bred it to be savory, like it's, you know, amongst color and all of these other things.
Jessica : it's
Alexis: But like from a flavor specific, we did that humans did that and bred them to be more savory and go in that direction. And I was just like he was telling me that and I was in awe on the floor.
Jessica : It's so, yeah, it's so interesting to see that, to see how plants and everything originally started out.
Alexis: So exciting. yeah
Jessica : Because like, you know, you said you think about flowers, but I also just thought about poinsettias to be like going like way off, kind of like top of here.
Brett: Amen.
Jessica : But there's pictures of, you know, what the original poinsettia looked like when it was discovered in, ah believe it was in Mexico is where they originate from.
Plant People: Yeah, I think so, yeah.
Jessica : And it looks nothing like, i mean, it looks like you can say it's a poinsettia, but it's like compared to what we see now being sold in the stores.
Plant People: No.
Plant People: The leaves look similar, yeah.
Jessica : Like you would be like, is there something wrong with that thing? Right.
Alexis: yeah
Jessica : But that's just how it originally looked, you know?
Brett: Shout out to Dr. Manoj Sapkota is his name.
Alexis: Thank you, Savkoda.
Brett: He's in the –
Alexis: I was sorry. Minoj, if you hear this, I'm sorry. I was just so excited about the cool things you told me that I completely blanked.
Brett: we'll have to or have to have him on. you know Jessica, hearing you and you talk about the kind of –
Alexis: He is awesome. yeah
Brett: pre-Columbian exchange, as they call it, before things were taken back. You think of Italian food, Alexis, Italian.
Alexis: yeah
Brett: and The other day I was eating some Greek food and they had tomatoes in there. And you know you close your eyes and think about what Italian food is One of those you know essential pieces is the tomato, which is something that came from the New World and was brought from that area, from South America and you know north ah Central North America, back too Europe, probably through the process of seed saving.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: Because you know the journey was so long, the plant would have probably died on the way or like gone through its full life cycle.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Alexis: no
Brett: and um So I think that you know that idea of like seed saving is part of this. ah you know In that case, it's a ah mixed history of colonial exploitation along with cultural sharing.
Alexis: a Yeah.
Brett: But um I think it's been an important part of just like when you go to a new place and you have some seeds from home, there's also that you know aspect of it too, that it's a way to create a garden. There's a lot of um refugee and other just immigrant folks in the United States who are doing these gardening projects and they when they can get their hands on seed or bring seed from their eggplant or their style of cassava or whatever it is.
Jessica : Right.
Brett: It's really cool.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: and And so it's just another element of that what you were talking about earlier, Jess.
Alexis: It's heritage.
Jessica : Yeah. Yep. It's the heritage with it.
Alexis: And, you know, we think about art and stuff as that, but like seeds are and food. We know food is, but like food comes from something, right? So seeds.
Jessica : Right.
Alexis: But yeah, that's a like, oh, we're getting off.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis: We're talking about like how you might actually do it today, but that's just the why is so important.
Jessica : Well, right. So if you, If you do have some tomatoes hanging right? like what is the process we go about doing this? You know, there's a, there's a couple of rules with seed saving and they've kind of been mentioned already about heirloom versus like a hybrid, right? If it's a hybrid tomato that you have grown, you know, to keep in mind with how things cross, that's not going to come back true.
Jessica : And Alexis, and then you guys can elaborate more because you have more of that bank of horticulture knowledge, the botany brain.
Plant People: i
Plant People: I always look for those keywords, um, either.
Alexis: The botany brain.
Brett: So like, what is what is, is ah you mean like, what is a ah hybrid versus an heirloom versus some other thing?
Jessica : um
Brett: Is that what, is that, because I could use, I could use some insight.
Alexis: Jim.
Jessica : Yeah. Do you want to roll with that or do you want
Alexis: um
Brett: Who are you pointing to?
Jessica : Oh, I pointed. Yeah. You can't see who I'm pointing Alexis. Cause she has the botany brain.
Alexis: she
Jessica : You can't tell which person I'm pointing to where you're at on my screen.
Alexis: the the bot The botany brain I usually use the um like Labradoodle example ah For like hybrids So a Labradoodle is an example of a hybrid Where it's a poodle and a lab you know a Labrador That have been crossed to create a Labradoodle And
Brett: um
Brett: Is that where the name comes from?
Alexis: Yes. um And then a Labradoodle and a Labradoodle make another Labradoodle. And so you get these like first and second generation. So you may see like, yeah, F1, F2.
Plant People: F1s, F2s, yeah. Yeah.
Alexis: And what that's referring to, if you've received it all on a packet, is just like the generation of hybrid. it is is So is it a poodle and a, is its parent a poodle and a Labrador or a Labradoodle and a Labradoodle?
Plant People: Yeah,
Alexis: And so, you know, that's kind of, you know, one, huh?
Brett: And this is hybrid.
Alexis: huh
Plant People: a hybrid.
Brett: is hybrids.
Alexis: Right, hybrids, right, versus like an heirloom um is going to be true to seed. it is the It is the parent, it is the poodle, it is the Labrador. um Nothing creates, yeah, and nothing creates it.
Brett: Pure bread.
Jessica : Thank you.
Alexis: And so it's... it's going to come back true unless it's something that can be cross-pollinated, which totally flubs up everything.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Not every plant will cross with another plant, um but like that's how you can have a squash plant, a yellow squash plant beside a watermelon plant. If you save seed from either one of those, you will have squash melon the next year, right?
Alexis: So again, a hybrid.
Jessica : I'm, I'm experienced in growing squash from, uh, yeah, from squash and, ah gourds being next to each other.
Alexis: Squash.
Plant People: yeah
Alexis: Yeah.
Alexis: yeah
Brett: or
Plant People: You always look for two keywords, either heirloom or open pollinated, usually on seed packs.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: If you're reading seed packs and the the danger words, if you're a seed saver is as far as seed saving goes, true to type is that word hybrid or anytime you see like F1, which an F1, Alexis said, that's the first generation result of the cross.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: And those are premium products, but it's only true to top for that F1 generator.
Jessica : Thank you.
Plant People: Those are hybrid. So anything says hybrid. or f one Those are things that you have to have a specific parent parental cross or it does not come back true to type, regardless of the pollination. But the easy things that we save in gardens are usually self-pollinated.
Plant People: That's ah the keywords, self-pollinated or heirloom.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: That's your giveaway that those are seeds you can probably focus on. That's your classic big three, which is what? That's tomatoes, beans, and peppers.
Jessica : Right. Beans. Yep.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jessica : yeah
Plant People: And you could put peas in there, too. if you ah There's more of a ah history of ah folks saving peas in other parts of the country, I know, but peas fall into that under that, too.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: They're pretty easy to save, aren't they, Jessica? Peas are?
Jessica : Yes, the peas and like you said, the those big ah the big three I think about are the beans, peppers, and the tomatoes for sure.
Plant People: I don't know.
Jessica : um Versus your other, i would say your riskier ones of saving are going to be any of those cucurbits, corn being wind pollinated, right?
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Anything wind pollinated. Yeah.
Jessica : All of those are going to be a lot harder to get it to come back true. Now you might discover something new and great, but you know then again, you're like, I might not get this the next year.
Plant People: Well,
Brett: Well, I was going to ask, as ah as a former precocious child and ah pain to many of the adults in my life, I haven't grown out of some of my habits.
Jessica : you know
Plant People: yeah.
Alexis: yeah
Brett: And one of my habits or one of my you know things is like… Yeah, I kind of believe you, but I kind of don't believe you. Like, what's what's going to happen? Like, in the if if if you save the you save the hybrid does it just not does it just not grow or does it what What happens?
Plant People: wow that's tough with the F1 hybrids. That's a great.
Alexis: I can tell you i can tell you my experience.
Alexis: Yeah, so know I've got, i told you, I save, I usually let one tomato seedling I dig up and save that's compost.
Plant People: No, sometimes it's,
Alexis: And um I don't think that it's going to produce at all, this plant that I don't know anything about. ah It's huge. The plant is massive.
Alexis: And it's right next to and being treated the same way as some some that I grew from seed and some heirlooms that I grew from seed. And it's twice as big, but I don't think is it will fruit.
Alexis: And it has, act you know.
Jessica : I actually clocked that the other day when I was over there.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Jessica : I saw your giant tomato plant with nothing on it.
Alexis: Yeah. Yeah, I just, you know, experimenting and seeing what it is. And it's like rambling all over the place. And it finally has some blooms, which in theory means it could produce fruit.
Alexis: But compared to its neighboring, you know, pot neighbor tomato, that's got nice tomatoes on it. i So I don't think it will even produce. And that's most likely because someone had a hybrid like big boy or something like that.
Alexis: And, you know, it fell and and just got turned in or something. So.
Plant People: That's what confuses gardeners because sometimes with hybrids or F1s, there's a dilution effect.
Jessica : Thank you.
Plant People: And some the F2 cross, the second generation, may be 99% of the desirable characteristics, but I guarantee you with a hybrid,
Plant People: It'll be a dilution factor every single year. Some, you know, that that second generation, if you try to save in hybrid seed, it may be 95% true to top, you know, desirable characteristics.
Plant People: But it also may, it stands an equal chance being 35% desirable characteristics.
Alexis: It's your like Punnett Square Going back Speaking of peas Punnett Square Oh never heard Punnett Square
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Mm-hmm. Hmm. Hmm.
Plant People: Yeah. You just never know. Yeah.
Brett: um Shut up, Gregor. Shut up, Gregor Mendel.
Plant People: ah So you're, you're team punit, not team punit. I've, I start arguments with that all the time. Punit square versus punit square.
Alexis: oh i've never heard punit square
Jessica : hu
Brett: I never realized that Ray was a punit pundit.
Plant People: I am a punit punit. I am. And it was ah this old English botanist. That was a speaker from England that came to Bree and did special topics in my ah advanced botany course. And he pronounced it punit.
Plant People: and I was like, have I been wrong all this time?
Alexis: He probably also said clematis, so I don't want to hear about it.
Plant People: unit yeah He did. He did say clematis and he,
Brett: Yeah, and he probably had like a ah diagram on the behind him of his Punit square that was made out of aluminium. aluminium
Plant People: Yes, aluminium.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: Yes, and I think so.
Brett: So take it elsewhere.
Plant People: But that...
Alexis: He probably called things bins and boots.
Plant People: and Strange, strange nomenclatures there.
Brett: so So anyway, we've gotten off on a lot of exciting things about plant genetics and and hybrids and all that kind of stuff.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: But the bottom line that I'm hearing from you all is if it says it's an heirloom, if it says it's open pollinated and you know that, then it's a ah good candidate for saving seed.
Plant People: Yes.
Plant People: And then if it's...
Brett: If it is a hybrid, don't waste your time.
Jessica : Yes.
Brett: Just get new hybrid seed next year.
Plant People: Don't try because it because the variability is just not worth it. The investment that you're, and if it's a self-pollinated ah plant, like a tomato, I mean, the those are super easy. Those are like the easiest, Jessica already mentioned the easiest of the easiest.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: ah That's the self-pollinated.
Brett: And those are some of the classic varieties like a brandy wine or a Cherokee purple or like those types of things tend to fall into that category.
Plant People: Yeah. yeah
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Yep.
Brett: Is that right? Okay.
Plant People: Yep.
Alexis: Yes, you will sometimes get a very excited bumblebee that will accidentally cross pollinate those plants because they can get in there.
Jessica : Yeah.
Brett: Okay.
Plant People: Love them. Love them.
Alexis: The flowers are small. But yeah, ah if you want something that's true to type with very little work, you want something that is close pollinated.
Plant People: and And it's one not to get too much in the weeds on that, but it's fascinating. Even though a plant has both male and female flowers, it's not self fertile. So genetically, I mean, to distill things down, you know, in simple terms, like it can't cross with itself, but it can cross with itself very similar of another type.
Plant People: So it keeps the the type very tightly, you know, controlled. So it's interesting.
Alexis: Nature is crazy.
Plant People: It is when you get into it, ah yeah, keep it simple.
Jessica : It's amazing.
Alexis: But if you're wanting to save seed, you're wanting to save seed, yeah. And we're at the point, you know, we could talk, maybe we do a whole spring episode about like how to keep things true to type.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: So zinnias, for example, are open pollinated, which means if you have a red one next to a yellow one, in theory, you're square, they they can cross pollinate and give you orange ones and more red ones and more yellow ones, but you won't know until they grow, right?
Plant People: um
Plant People: yeah
Alexis: um So we could have like a whole session on sort of like how to keep, you know, your corn from being cross pollinated, what the distance is, but that's more of like a spring chat. There's nothing you can do about it at this point.
Alexis: So this point in the season, right, this point in the season, it's exciting because now you're like, ooh, what am I going to get?
Jessica : Right. You're going to get what you're going get now.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: ah So do we have like those of you who may have done some seed saving of various things, any tips to give people and what you saved?
Jessica : um i would... look at, well, I guess the question I get a lot is about ah with them is like, how long are these going to last? Or kind of like the...
Plant People: yeah.
Jessica : the um storage wise, like how like once you harvest them, so like just thinking of like a tomato, and I've seen this done several times.
Jessica : A lot of times with the tomato, you're going to like often look, I keep hopping around, but you're going to like look for the healthiest plant possible. Let's start there.
Alexis: Yes.
Jessica : Okay.
Alexis: Yes.
Jessica : We're going to look for ah very healthy plant. You don't want to go out there, even though your garden is probably going downhill at this point, maybe, unless you're like super starved.
Alexis: Jessica's saying that for my own benefit because she recently did a farm visit for me and I was like.
Jessica : No, no.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jessica : it's It is the time of year, right? um But you're going to try to pick from the healthiest plant. You don't want to pick anything that has potentially could have disease on it that could carry over into that next year or maybe not make those seeds viable or that can carry over and you're just spreading disease around your yard, your garden the following year.
Jessica : So and something from the healthiest one, a nice
Alexis: right
Jessica : Good tomato. Maybe it's a little past its prime right to eat, but that's okay. And then for the tomato, you're just basically and going to cut it up and let it set for a couple of days. Have it sliced.
Jessica : Let that seeds like kind of dry out naturally around, around the tomato.
Plant People: I like
Jessica : ah but I can't talk gunk innards.
Alexis: The pulp, like the pulp
Jessica : it the Yes. and
Brett: i like gunk better, personally.
Jessica : Before. Yeah.
Alexis: ah like gunk, yeah
Plant People: bank.
Jessica : Yeah. Before taking them.
Brett: lets Let that gunk dry out.
Alexis: This is a chill podcast.
Jessica : and It's very chill today.
Brett: Yeah. Yeah.
Alexis: We can take gunk.
Jessica : We're all over the place. But before you just take them and ah keep them in a cool, dry location, also write down what they are.
Jessica : That's very important as well.
Alexis: Key.
Brett: Yeah.
Jessica : Hey, make sure you store them, you know, old spice bottles, other, you know, a container you can store them in versus being out in the open. I say this from experience, not for me, but my husband saved hot peppers and left them laying out in an area where mice enjoyed them all winter long.
Jessica : So, um you know, make sure you put them in some sort of container once they are completely airtight.
Alexis: yeah
Alexis: Ideally, like an air... I mean, it could it could be airtight, but like um if you're not going to go airtight, if you can put them in a safe space that's not going to be eaten by mice, a lot of the time you can keep them in like a paper bag or something that breathes.
Jessica : uh-huh
Alexis: So it kind of has to be one extreme or the other. um The benefit of the airtight, of course, is that you are not going to have rodent problems because But also if they aren't super dry, they can rot, right?
Alexis: um So the other thing that like once you do have them dry and you have them in a container of some kind, then you want to keep them generally cool um is, you know, for most most people like throwing them in the crisper drawer of the fridge is going to be ah great place. And mine is currently full of seeds and cheese.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: So, so just just back up and and and for me to visualize.
Plant People: Of course it is.
Brett: So you take like a tomato in this case, and you're saying you cut it up and let it kind of essentially rot a little bit, the the fruit itself brought a little bit in place.
Plant People: Yes.
Jessica : huh Yeah.
Plant People: What?
Brett: And then are you
Plant People: Three to five days, two to two to four days.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: I've heard it both ways, but yeah.
Brett: and then you're, you're then removing the individual little seeds from that and storing those or you're storing the whole thing?
Plant People: There's a couple.
Jessica : Just, ah well, I was going to say, i've my experience has been removing the seeds, maybe spreading them out a little bit, maybe for an extra day, like on a paper towel or something.
Plant People: Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : and then I'm just storing the seeds, like i said, in a container.
Brett: Gotcha. Hmm.
Jessica : Or like Alexis mentioned, the paper bag that's breathable.
Plant People: Some people add just a little bit of water and the good seeds will, i don't don't ask me how it works, but there's a definite reason. Add just a little bit of water to that gel and the good seeds tend to sink down.
Plant People: So you can discard the gel and the good seeds will go to the bottom almost every time. And that's a good way to weed that out initially.
Alexis: It's because they have an embryo and they're heavier.
Plant People: Kind of the egg yolk effect.
Alexis: That's why.
Plant People: But it's interesting that that gel is I mean, it keeps the seeds from germinating, but you're not worried about that this time of year. That's mother nature taking care of the seeds. But yeah, soak that three to five days.
Alexis: You also may run into, don't freak out, because the amount of times I've seen people post on Facebook or send me video so photos of their tomatoes, they cut it open, and that like the seeds are germinating.
Plant People: and
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Alexis: that is not That is not chemical warfare.
Plant People: It happened. Yeah.
Alexis: That's called vivipery.
Brett: i vipoy ah am i I knew that word.
Alexis: It's a fun word to say.
Plant People: its impressive when you see
Alexis: Vibri and that is a very natural thing in nature It has nothing to do with GMOs It has nothing to do with you know spraying round like you know pesticides So I just felt like I had to say that in case of course all of our listeners know that that's not true But so that you can you know a new fun word you can tell other people
Brett: It's a misunderstood...
Brett: It's misunderstood interpretation of the seasons and what's going on.
Plant People: Yes.
Brett: The plant thought, the seed thought, okay, it's moist.
Alexis: Right
Brett: It's kind of warm. Let's go.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: it turns out still inside the fruit.
Jessica : and Right.
Plant People: the compounds that inhibit germination of some time.
Alexis: yeah Yeah.
Jessica : Let's reproduce.
Alexis: It's ah it's like ah yeah when a baby comes out early, it's like, I'm ready, let's do this.
Brett: Yeah, premie it's a preemie. It's just a preemie.
Alexis: It's just
Plant People: So I guess that that's what I'm saving seeds. That's sort of how I divide it my head, kind of the wet process seeds, which are what else? i mean cuka I mean, those are more advanced. I'm not saying save those, but things like tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, melons, that's the wet process stuff. And the dry process stuff would be like what?
Plant People: Um, yeah, green beans.
Alexis: Beans, peas,
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Yeah, exactly.
Alexis: Those things that like can dry out on the plant in the shell.
Brett: Corn?
Jessica : And
Alexis: You can kind of forget about it. And then when you're ready to terminate them because they're all dried up, you go, oh, look, free plants, free seeds.
Jessica : and you just rip them all in and take them and pop them out their shells.
Plant People: a
Plant People: If the rattle, if you hear that rattle, very good sign for the dry process, uh, seed savers.
Alexis: Yep.
Plant People: When you hear that rattle, that means full maturity has been reached.
Alexis: Mm hmm.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Alexis: What about peppers? Who has, Jessica, you said Sean's done some peppers um before.
Plant People: Hmm.
Alexis: Was there like anything key about peppers that he latched onto that it was ready to harvest for seed?
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : Well, if one, if you are ah you doing spicy peppers, wear gloves from experience.
Alexis: yeah
Plant People: Oh, yeah. Goodness, girl.
Alexis: Just a reminder, wear gloves.
Jessica : But you should allow them to completely ripen on the plant if possible until they turn like a nice red color. You want like fully mature, right?
Alexis: and
Plant People: Hmm.
Jessica : And sometimes that's a little hard because they can get a little over mature.
Alexis: Yeah, yeah.
Jessica : you going to say something, Alexis?
Alexis: I was going to say, ah what do we know about green bell peppers? They turn red eventually.
Jessica : Yes, yes.
Alexis: So...
Plant People: It takes a while.
Brett: And Alexis does not like them.
Alexis: Don't a lot of people and i do not like them.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Brett: And Alexis does not like to eat them.
Alexis: um Yeah. Look at Brett pulling out some knowledge there. Yes. ah Green bell peppers. People tend to think are will only ever be green. Not true. They will ripen fully and they will become red.
Alexis: So, you know, fun fact there for
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Brett: Yeah, well and but the the and the interesting thing about that, just for people's i kind of, so there are, all of them will turn red, but there are certain ones that are bred in order to be harvested green.
Alexis: Correct.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Brett: And if you let them turn red, they will get like woody.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: and gross.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: And there are other ones that are meant to be harvested red and they need to be grown until they ripe them, but they will look, and but many times they will look green that whole time. And so it's interesting and like ah ah pe a poblano pepper
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: and an ancho pepper are fundamentally the same thing they're just one is ripe and an ancho is ripe and then smoked um and it's the same way with a chipotle pepper is a mature fully mature jalapeno that has also then been smoked that's what chipotle and are there these different stages of the same pepper just a fun little fun little tidbit um
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Jessica : And a little, you know, something else about peppers that kind of goes with that spring talk as well, that they can sometimes are usually self-pollinating. It's usually like nothing to worry about. However, as you can tell, i have a lot of experience with spicy peppers because apparently that is what we do.
Jessica : um They can, they will, sometimes you can get a spicy um bell pepper.
Alexis: Looks like a bell pepper but tastes like a jalapeno.
Jessica : You can get, yeah, but I'm talking about like ghosts and, you know, all of those, those things and because the, the hot pepper gene is more dominant.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Jessica : So it'll show up.
Brett: um
Jessica : ah So got to keep that in mind with those. And again, even if you're saving seeds from bell peppers, it's a good idea to wear gloves. And wash your hands and stuff afterward. Don't touch your face when doing those.
Jessica : But really simple to save those because you're not leaving them in that pulp or anything because you're just taking them out, let them dry on a paper a paper towel, and then you're good to go with them.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Alexis: Flowers are usually even easier for any of you interested in that because you don't ah have any juicy pulp that you have to deal with. So um flowers are usually something that you're going to wait until you can physically, most of the time, physically see the seeds starting to shed or the flower is brown.
Alexis: And that means it is either pollinated or itself or has been pollinated depending on what kind it is. And then you can harvest that and, um you know, If you're worried about one thing, if I know I really want to harvest a certain flower head because that plant just was way healthier than any of the other ones. And I want i want seed from that.
Alexis: I will take a little um drawstring, like ah people know them as like little jewelry bags. They're the met little very fine mesh bags.
Brett: Reminder.
Alexis: and i will use that to cover a flower. They come in a bunch of different sizes, even when it's like you know healthy and um not ready to be harvested, because number one, it's a visual impact for me to make sure that I cut that for that purpose.
Brett: hu
Brett: reminder
Alexis: It also helps keep you know any bad insects from going in there and destroying that seed or it being eaten by something. um And then when you cut it, all that seed that might be shedding is staying in that little bag, so you can just cut it and hang it up and forget about it until you're ready for it.
Alexis: as long as's as it's in like a cool dry place. And so flowers are are pretty easy. They do often cross pollinate really easy. Again, that's a spring talk issue, but um they're easy to harvest and ah usually pretty successful to start the next year. Not everything is easy to save and be have good, ah what's the what do they put in seed packets? The germination rate.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: They don't all have good germination rate.
Brett: Can I, can I ask you a question about that? So um on the flowers,
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: you know when we have vegetables, like, like a tomato or a pepper or whatever, there's a flower that can then gets pollinated. And usually by the time, generally by the time the thing is ready to harvest the pepper or the tomato or whatever, the flower petals are gone.
Brett: And it's just kind of that base that has been pollinated and turned into something else.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: So with a flower, when you're saving seed for a flower, by the time you're saving the seed, are like most of the petals are completely gone and it's just this like fruiting body thing that's there?
Brett: Or like what ah I realize it's probably different depending, but I never.
Alexis: Yeah, it's yes, yes and no. So it it is very species dependent. So like a zinnia, the petal will stay connected to the seed um basically until you take it off most of the time. it rarely...
Alexis: ah comes comes off by itself versus something like celosia which is in related to pigweed ah it's an amaranth those little tiny seeds just kind of fall out of the floral um body it's not really petals so pretty much everything is different um so there's no there's no easy answer to that but um if you're not sure you can like shake it over a bucket and if things dislodge it's probably like ready to be harvested
Brett: Yeah,
Jessica : Thank
Brett: yeah I just think of the flower as like this reproductive structure that is the precursor to seeds and then some other thing follows behind.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: And I was just, I had never thought of it that way before.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: brief Brief side note, there's a song I'd like to recommend to our audience called Cool Dry Place by Katie Kirby that reminded me of that.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: Katie Kirby, Cool Dry Place, it reminds me of this time of year.
Plant People: Proper seed storage.
Brett: It's, you know, keep me, keep me in a cool dry place. Those are your seeds singing to you through Katie Kirby.
Plant People: Remember, your seeds are living. They're not dead. They they respire.
Alexis: and for
Jessica : ha
Plant People: So they have respiration. So slow that down. You don't want that to happen real fast.
Brett: So I'm storing...
Plant People: And I guess, Jessica, that makes them last longer if you put them in that cool.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: Yeah.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: Is that what it is? Yeah.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: You slow down respiration.
Jessica : And, and some, and some seeds are longer lived than others. Right.
Plant People: Yeah. Do you have some numbers there somewhere?
Jessica : Um, so and not necessarily numbers off the top of my head, but like,
Plant People: yeah I can't. I don't remember.
Jessica : Like we talked about already, like tomatoes and stuff. They're like why they're so easy to keep, but then they also store for a really long time. ah i trying to think of what other ones.
Alexis: I always think of it like a rule of thumb as, and again, it's a rule of rule of thumb here. It's not perfect. The bigger the seed, the less like it it it feels the opposite. The bigger the seed is the less storage time it has. So like corn has some of the, like is only like a year.
Alexis: Like you really want to use that first.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Alexis: um Like beans and stuff, they they kind of break the rule. But in general, the bigger the seed, the less time you have to store it, which seems the opposite of what you should be.
Alexis: Because you're like well, there's more food there.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: But um it's it's kind of more surface area.
Plant People: More surface area, too.
Brett: like like dogs Like dogs and dudes.
Alexis: Yeah, but...
Brett: The bigger they are, the softer they are.
Plant People: I'm trying to find this. I think it's Knott's handbook.
Jessica : So
Alexis: why I have corgis. Yeah.
Brett: Exactly.
Jessica : so yeah, like
Plant People: I have a...
Brett: Bully old bear, 85 pounder.
Plant People: oh I'm trying to find the thing.
Jessica : So like a general rule has like but of five years or more, right? You could get out from like a tomato.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : But then yet I know people who are like, I've had these seeds for 15, 20 years that I've been using, right?
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: Yeah, determination rate may vary.
Jessica : ah The germination of a berry versus like your median live seeds that are more...
Alexis: Right.
Jessica : um Some of those peas, maybe some squash and stuff there, at least you're going maybe be lucky to get three years out of them. But then that, like Alexis said, especially corn, ah onion ah is usually what you get one year out of it.
Jessica : And then it's then then you really don't need to put all your faith into it Right.
Plant People: Yeah. Okay.
Alexis: on the flower perspective uh just to update if you're thinking about what seeds you're going to buy and you grow flowers straw flower is not great germination rates from year to year so you can buy a packet of seed and 95 of them germinate out of that pack and even if you store them perfectly they are not super viable um and if you Don't be like me and run into situations where there's no good straw flower seed to be found because everybody has bought it and you thought you had some and you did technically, but it does not germinate.
Jessica : Right.
Alexis: So ah sometimes it's just not your fault. just
Brett: So as far as, as far as like germination rates and reliability of this and stuff, I'm, I'm, I'm just thinking like there's a potential that some people would want to do this to like save money on seed and to, to have basically, I mean, like the old way that, um, there's a whole, uh, a whole saying about short sighted strategy of eating into reserves is called eating your seed corn.
Plant People: Hmm.
Brett: Um, because you're supposed to be saving that for the next year and not eating it, uh,
Plant People: Hmm.
Brett: Is there, is there like, in your experience, do you think there is like an economically, a reliable enough process that economically you would rely on this? Or is it, is it more just kind of a fun story and fun vibe?
Plant People: I think the economics would be, I mean, I'll give a case in point that sort of nuanced Brett is, you know, growing up, greasy beans, they brought double of what half runners or Romas would bring.
Plant People: And for us, it was economics because, you know, we had old, I guess it was called old fashioned, you know, I think white greasy bean it was called, whatever version of greasy bean it was, but it brought double the money. So for us to save those seeds and people would ask for those by name because not very many people had them.
Plant People: My dad didn't share those with anybody. ah So we sort had the market cornered on those guys. I mean, people could, of course, buy, though, but my dad was not selling the mature ones, so nobody would get the seeds.
Plant People: He was very careful about this. But for us, it was economics. We had a unique product, but now I know that's not the typical case. ah He also saved it because his family had had those in his family for generations.
Plant People: But that was a greasy bean, and it was worth a lot when we sold those at market for, you know, a few people around that knew what they were looking for. So for us, it was practical and it had an economic impact.
Plant People: But as far as working with people in general, it seems like a point of pride, ah more so than an economic thing, just from my personal observations there at the office currently, you know, just people in general.
Jessica : Mm-hmm. huh
Plant People: There are some farmer's market people that, save, you know, open pollinated varieties that are heirloom because they're not readily available year to year consistently or the orders are placed so far out, you'd have to order them two years in advance and they they keep them for that reason.
Plant People: So I guess it just depends, but more so for, you know, like a pride perspective than anything else, I think.
Alexis: for For flowers, um you know people who run across certain colors or forms that they like, there's a huge um ah huge push in flowers that there didn't used to be for breeding efforts, for different colors and forms of things.
Alexis: ah So you know there's there's just a big movement for seed saving ah in that way. And so I think if you were if you had something special, yes, it could be very economical.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: or if that seed is really expensive because it's super special and hard to find, then yeah, of course.
Plant People: Yeah.
Plant People: and
Alexis: But really from a homeowner's standpoint...
Jessica : Thank
Alexis: Probably not. It's again, point of pride. It's exciting, uh, from a farming standpoint, maybe if it was special, but you know, I couldn't see myself saving seed from the everyday thing when I can buy a packet of it.
Plant People: yeah
Alexis: I know the germination rate, I know it's been treated properly and it costs, you know, even if it were to cost $10, it is going to save me a lot of time and effort.
Plant People: yeah
Alexis: Um, i you know I couldn't produce that much seed for $10 because it's a lot to process a seed. If you ever process a tomato, you'll be like, hmm, was this what I wanted to do?
Plant People: and
Plant People: one
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: Maybe not.
Brett: And I mean, it it takes like to to me, the thing, yeah, there's the the time and the energy and everything else, but there's also the big the big R word of risk that at every stage along the process, you have the mice come in and eat the seed or they you know do this or do that, or you put um but all the seed out that you thought was good and it's actually not viable and none of it comes up and you're too late to order and it's sold out everywhere.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Yep.
Jessica : yep yep
Brett: Like that makes me nervous.
Plant People: mean.
Brett: But I think you know one of the areas I've heard seed saving and and some of this stuff come up is um there' it's ah it's not a ah a monolith of cultural ah practice, but there are people on a spectrum from what we might call preppers
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: All the way to people who are just sort of skeptical of some of the sustainability of some of our long-term systems to say in a world where you can buy seed for $10 a pack, it makes no sense. But I think based on what I'm seeing that maybe that's not going to.
Brett: be the the case for you know for forever. And so I want to know how to seed save in order to support my homestead or those types of things.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Brett: It's it's just an interesting cultural phenomenon of the... I think there's always been preppers. like There's always been people who think that this is the end or this is the whatever.
Alexis: you We just didn't have TV shows about them......................
Brett: Yeah, we just didn't have...
Jessica : We just know about them more now.
Brett: have history channel document, you know, uh, pseudo documentary shows about them and all all of that stuff.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: You're talking about my family, Brent.
Brett: But, um, but I, I mean, I think that there is a reasonable, ah discussion to be had about like, are there these skills associated with self-sufficiency that we're just losing through a marketplace of convenience?
Brett: And what does it mean? Like, It's one thing to choose not to do it when the option is there to learn. But if this is a lost, becomes a lost art, a lost practice, then suddenly we don't really even have the option anymore.
Brett: And so I think, I think that's an interesting part of the seed saving conversation that we
Plant People: I enjoy this discussion. Like you, what kicked it off years ago for me was with master gardeners, but it sparked from a, you know, a botany like education standpoint, it's a wonderful botany lesson.
Plant People: And it's a, it's a great kind of a sounding board for people exchanging ideas. Well, why can't we save this? Or why shouldn't we, or why can we save this and not that and the life expectancy and all of that.
Plant People: It's a great lesson in botany, if nothing else, that helps.
Alexis: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: um It's always good to have a good foundation for home gardeners or commercial operations. That's why one of the reasons I love the seed saving topic for me personally is it's just, you know, great to compare and contrast. Yeah.
Plant People: Economically, is it always worth it? Well, no, but it's, so you know, we're in the business of adult education for the most part, at least ah in my neck of the woods. And I think it's a great discussion to have for home gardeners.
Alexis: And hopefully it will never like, you know, be totally lost because we have people like Jessica who are literally planning a class on this.
Plant People: Yeah. They're doing it.
Alexis: And so she is putting that out there for people who are interested and will probably continue doing it as long as people say, hey, one or two people can say, hey, and then, you know, you keep offering it.
Plant People: Love it.
Plant People: I love it. Love it.
Brett: I will also note there are several ah seed exchanges in the state and across the region that usually happen in the late winter, early spring.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Brett: And so ah theyre there, at least for the last number of years, was one in Pikeville, ah Kentucky.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: There's one up in, i believe, somewhere in southern Ohio, Kentucky. ah But they're all over the place, these these seed exchanges. I know that one of our extension agents, um Amanda Sears, organized a seed library down in the Richmond, ah Madison County area.
Plant People: um
Brett: And so there are opportunities if you, even if you don't want to save your seed or you don't want to, you don't have something you're growing that you could save right now, next year, instead of just going on the seed catalog, you could theoretically go to one of these seed exchanges and pick up some seed and think about growing it um
Plant People: I know the libraries do that.
Alexis: Check your local library.
Plant People: You got heirlooms.
Alexis: Yeah, a lot of them are are starting to to do that um and and have stuff.
Plant People: Yeah. Yeah.
Alexis: We did one Boyle County too and have some great volunteers who would love to see you have that seed.
Plant People: I think Clark Boyle Clark bourbon.
Brett: Yeah. And there's some, there's some some treatments and things that you can do to make sure that no disease gets spread.
Jessica : yes
Brett: And maybe we can cover that, you know, next spring, but, uh,
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah, we can at least drop some publications in there on like, you know, at home seed treatments.
Brett: and
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Plant People: Cause only certain diseases transfer through the seed, but you want to avoid those.
Brett: yeah.
Alexis: Right. Yeah.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah. We can put those in the show notes for you.
Brett: So, so to, to briefly recap what I think I learned, uh, so there, there are the, the juicy seeds the dry seeds.
Plant People: Yep.
Brett: Juicy ones are the ones that have gunk.
Alexis: The gunky. Mm
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: And specifically tomatoes require a specific process to get rid of the the gunk.
Jessica : Gunk.
Alexis: hmm.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: Yeah. And then if it's, so if it's a wet one, you kind of want to leave it in that, in that fruiting body to, for a couple days to just steep, then remove that, spread the stuff out, let it dry like on a paper towel or something like that, and then transfer it either to ah breathable paper bag, if you can protect it from other things or an airtight container and then store it in a cool, dry place.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alexis: if
Brett: Is that
Alexis: Cool dry place.
Jessica : Yep. yep
Brett: And then for the dry ones, they're a little bit easier because they kind of process themselves into the dried seed.
Plant People: yeah
Brett: And so that's peas and beans and, ah you know, dent corn and stuff like that, that it dries out and becomes this, you know, hard a capsule of of ah plant magic.
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: that you can also then store in a similar way. When you're selecting plants, you want to choose a healthy plant, ah ideally free of disease, and maybe with some of the characteristics that you're, you know, big fruit or right whatever.
Brett: um And for flowers, Alexis, can you give us the recap on flowers?
Alexis: Flowers are pretty easy. ah They are often cross-pollinated, but ah you basically just want to wait till they're starting to shed their pieces and parts and they're ready to go. And i usually recommend putting a bag over them before they start to shed.
Alexis: um That way, they don't you don't lose everything that way. so
Brett: Well, I learned a lot.
Alexis: But yeah, easy. Easy peasy. Lemon squeezy.
Brett: If I were yeah i would i would be attending if i were you know a mercer County resident, I would be attending Jessica's class on seed saving
Alexis: Squeeze your lemon seeds out.
Brett: for sure
Jessica : Thank you.
Plant People: When is the date of that class? Jessica, have you already got a date set?
Jessica : It is coming up in September 9th. Does that make sense?
Alexis: andly
Jessica : So early September.
Brett: Yeah. Okay.
Plant People: Wonderful.
Brett: okay
Alexis: Okay. If you are a Kentucky resident, um I can't speak for other university extension systems, but if you're a Kentucky resident and you would like to see seed saving opportunities in your county, maybe reach out to your county extension agent and say, hey, I'd love to learn more.
Alexis: And I will bring a friend and more than likely they'll say, that is such great information for me to have. I appreciate that feedback and I will execute it. because and if you haven't had that experience try again or go to your neighboring county and ask them all right well we thank you guys for being here ah with us today follow us on instagram at hort culture podcast maybe i'll throw up if anybody's got uh ray if you've got a picture of a greasy bean that you grew and maybe i'll throw up the forkland coxcomb celosia photo just to show some of those heirlooms off a little bit but
Alexis: You can follow us there on Instagram at Hort culture podcast. You can ah send us an email. We have a specific Gmail set up for that. And that's in the show notes. You can just click that and type away on your phone.
Alexis: If you would like, we'd love if you left us a review. If you want to know more about seed saving specifically, and if that spring topic of how to plan your garden for seed saving is something you're interested in, write it in the review.
Alexis: And that'll help other people find us. So that that makes the algorithm happy.
Jessica : um
Alexis: And there's some keywords there that'll help other people interested in seed saving. Listen to our podcast, which is always super helpful. And we appreciate all of you ah that have been doing that. and But we thank you for joining us. And we hope to hear from you next time.
Plant People: Thank you.
