Wow - that's a much wider spacing than I guessed. I may need to replant some tomorrow. For some reason, I thought they could be placed close together. Maybe that was onions. Well, this year is an experiment. Next year, I want to save good quality seed to share. mauirose - unfortunately, they are only purple on the outside. The inside is more yellow orange. bsntech - I had carrots over winter under shredded leaves, but I didn't try it with this variety this year. Glad to see more people seed-saving! Just FYI - carrots cross easily with Queen Ann's Lace and broccoli can be tricky. Do you have "Seed to Seed" by Suzanne Ashworth? Great book on seed saving! Bellatrix

>I read somewhere that Brassicas are a bit of an exception to that rule. Not necessarily the case. What often happens is that folks don't realize, because the plants are so radically different, that the same species is involved. For instance, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, caggage, cauliflower, collards, kale, and kohlrabi are all Brassica oleracea. Somebody might look at, say, Brussels sprouts and kohlrabi and conclude that they have to be different species. We see this more often with squashes. The classic example being that acorn squash and zucchini are both C. pepo, and can cross. Don't forget, too, that brassicas are, by and large, biennials. So you can protect your seed crop by time-isolation. That is, variety A is being grown for seed in its second year, while you grow Variety B next to it during it's first year. Variety B won't flower, so there is no danger of crossing. Brassicas are the exception to what I said about not needed a lot of land for a seed crop. To maintain vigor, seed should be collected from a minimum of 30 plants. Not too many home gardeners have the space or the inclination to tie up that much of their garden for two years growing a plant they won't even get to eat.

There are quite a few seeds that can be saved over a season (or two or three). Things like tomatoes peppers and radishes can be saved for a couple years with minimal changes in germination. However, things like carrots and alliums lose their viability over the course of a year. Generally, you'll experience poorer germination rates. Seeds should be kept in a cool dry place. Heat and humidity can destroy the seeds. Here's a chart, with the general rule of thumb about seed storage. Here is a link that might be useful: Seed storage

Hi Roy, First off if you save seeds from a hybrid variety, you will get seedlings different from the parent no matter what. The new generation could be good or could be bad, so unless you have room for experimenting, don't bother. If you are growing one non-hybrid variety of each item, you can just save seeds and you can get the same as the parent. You could have trouble if someone is gardening close by like with corn it needs a certain amount of isolation. So you have to grow only one variety of corn. The same type of item can cross with another of the same. Example Tomato 1 will cross with Tomato 2 to make offspring of different sorts, Pepper 1 will cross with Pepper 2 to make offspring of different sorts. But Tomatoes, though in the same family as Peppers, won't cross with Peppers. Tomatoes and Peppers flowers don't need another flower for pollination. So if you bag the blossom before it can be possibly pollinated by an insect, it will pollinate itself. All the seed saved will be identical to the parent. Squash and Pumkins need insect pollination or hand pollination. They can cross if their second half of their latin name is the same. Example Cucurbita pepo(many zucchini) and Cucurbita maxima(many pumpkin) won't cross with each other. Because I can't just bag a blossom, if I want to save seeds I just make sure I'm only growing one C. maxima variety. Cucumber pollination works the same way as Squash. I'm not sure if Sunflowers are self pollination or not. Beans are self pollinating. I hope I made a little sense, lol, Remy