Helen, I'd just separate the seeds and keep them. The fact that they stuck together doesn't mean they aren't viable. I've planted a clump of tomato seeds before where 2 or 3 seeds were stuck together, and they all germinated and then I pricked them apart, using a toothpick to separate their roots while they were very small, and potted them up separately and they grew just fine. If you feel like your seeds might not be viable, you could try germinating 10 of them and then calculate your germination rate based on how many of those 10 germinate. Then, based on your germination rate, you could decide if you should save some more seed or if you are happy with the seed you already have. I have grown several of the tomato varieties from The Dwarf Project, including Rosella Purple, and none of them have produced well for me nor have they had flavor that impressed me. Keep in mind that we have had nothing but drought years since I started trying to grow these varieties so it might not be a fair trial, but that's the weather I have here and it isn't likely to change. Of the varieties I've grown from The Dwarf Project, Rosella Purple produced better than the others, but it didn't produce well enough in 2 or 3 consecutive years to make it worth growing again. I grew it both in large containers (molasses feed tubs, which are about the size of whiskey half-barrels) and in raised beds filled with well-amended loamy clay. Rosella Purple set fruit well in the heat in the ground, and didn't do much of anything in the container, but the flavor was only average at best. For someone looking for a purple tomato that sets very well in very high heat, I think Rosella Purple would fit the bill, but I am very picky about tomato flavor and it just doesn't taste as good as I'd hoped it would. I've grown Indigo Rose a couple of years and it is just your typical novelty tomato that you might grow as a conversation piece. The flavor is only so-so. I do like having one of them in a large pot by the driveway (beside the red barn so its' color really stands out) where everyone can see it and ask myewhat sort of freaky blue tomato I'm growing. Eating them though? Not enjoyable. They produce loads and loads of fruit, which is a plus, but having loads of bland fruit that is not especially tasty is just silly. What's the point in growing them then? I think I used up the last of my Indigo Rose seed this year and won't plant it again. With tomatoes, cooking them, particularly when combined with olive oil, is supposed to release some of the healthful compounds and make them more available to your body and more easily absorbed by your body, so I think that the blue tomatoes could be combined in anything you cook---like tomato sauce or salsa---but I haven't done it. I just feed the blue ones to my chickens. I have learned to be careful about blending too many differently colored tomatoes together in sauce or salsa because you can end up with some odd colors....kinda like mixing together too many paint colors and ending up with a muddy color. Jay, Ditto on the heat here. We have had highs of 107-110 as recently as this past weekend. Yesterday our forecast high was 95 but our weather ignored the forecast and hit 100 degrees anyway. Because the drought continues and the heat is just ridiculous, the plants are really suffering. One fall tomato plant just gave up and died, and it was in a container and I could move it into shade on the worst days, but I just think too many hot temperatures since it was planted in late June or early July weakened it and it couldn't take the heat any more. Another couple of the fall plants look pretty bad and I'm not expecting much from them. I still have several varieties of tomatoes from the spring planting that look reasonably good and have a chance of producing in the fall if I keep watering, but I'm kinda at the point where continuing to water probably isn't smart. I think the return, in terms of a harvest, wouldn't be enough to make it financially smart to keep pouring water onto the veggie garden. Momotaro is still producing in the front garden and it will get water because it is right beside the asparagus. Several SunGold plants likely will continue to get some water because they are growing near the fig tree in the back garden. All the others, except for the fall tomato plants in containers, likely are done. I'll keep watering those fall tomatoes, but with highs remaining around 100 degrees all week and no rain in the forecast, I don't know that they're even going to get a chance to set fruit before the first frost arrives. Our weather is cooler this week than it was last week, but only marginally so. Only three of the fall tomato plants have set fruit. From those three plants, I have harvested three ripe tomatoes and have another one at breaker stage. That's not much of a return so far given that I have had them in containers and have watered them regularly (at least every other day, and often every day) since I planted them the last week of June or the first week in July. Our high temperatures have consistently gone 5-7 degrees above the NWS point forecast for our exact location all summer long, and they've consistently been hotter than the highs at our county's mesonet station. It has driven me nuts. I kept thinking that all our thermometers surely were broken, but then bought two brand new thermometers (the old-fashioned mercury type) and put them right beside the digital thermometers (5' above ground in full shade) and they are recording the same temperatures. I guess the fact that a lot of the rain has kept missing us while hitting the area where our mesonet station is part of the reason we're going hotter than expected, and hotter than what is recorded at the mesonet station. If I had known we'd stay so insanely hot and dry in August, I likely wouldn't have bothered planting fall tomatoes. We had a great spring crop, harvesting from the last week of April through the beginning of August, though it mostly has been only SunGolds the last couple of weeks. I'm about done with the garden for this year. I can't control the weather, and the plants can't set fruit in this heat. Being able to water enough to keep the plants alive is one thing but if they aren't setting fruit, it seems like a (pun intended) fruitless endeavor. Dawn

Hi Barb, Campanula punctata definitely can have seeds saved from it. Once the flowers die off. A pod will develop. Once the pod starts to turn light brown, little holes will appears. Pick them then. Small brown disk type seeds will be inside. Salvias vary in how much seed they make. They all make seed in the same way. The flower falls off and the calyx is left. It becomes like a little seeds cup. At the base of it, seeds will develop. Some varieties make no seeds or one seed per flower; some make 2 or 3 seeds per flower. Seed is normally ripe when the calyx starts to brown/gray. You will seed small dark round to oval(depends on type) ball type seeds. Remy

I agree with Remy. Squashes fall into six different species, so you could grow six species all at the same time without concern of cross-pollination. In your case, you have to consider ANY plants within 1/2 mile radius minimum. Must be hard in the city--I live on 20 acres. The neighbors zucchini is C. pepo so should be safe even if they still had some blooms still on. Other C. pepo squash are acorn, crookneck, scallop, small striped and warted gourds, spaghetti and of course zucchini. C. moschata squash are butternut, cheese, golden cushaw and many more. My BEST suggestion is to check out the article at the link below and then if you don't already have a book called, "Seed to Seed" by Suzanne Ashworth --- GET IT! Best investment for seed saving I ever made. It lists all the different varieties for all kinds of vegetables, along with the info. to determine what you can safely grow side by side without cross-pollination issues. It also tells how to plant, grow, harvest and dry seeds. It is considered our seed saving club's bible. This year I grew C. maxima, pepo, moschata and mixta species side by side. No cross-pollinatin, no problems. The book is great for planning your garden and seed purchases each year. Be sure to check out the article I posted about saving pumpkin and other squash seeds. There are several other seed saving articles at my site there; onions, sweet potato slips, seed life guide, seed storage, etc. Link is below. Here is a link that might be useful: How to Save Pumpkin Seeds, Squash & Gourds

Is is already really overripe? If so being in the fridge is ok. Cucumber seeds should be fermented like tomato seeds. The good ones will be fat and not bendy. I've not really paid attention when saving cucumber seeds, but before fermenting, they might float even if good since they have the gel around them. Remy