A number of city gardeners choose to save lots of seeds because it permits them to domesticate vegetables and fruit of constant high quality within the subsequent season and, in fact, get monetary savings and turn out to be self-reliant.
Surat-based house gardener Anupama Desai says, “Typically it turns into very troublesome for us to know the standard, age, or if there may be any form of chemical coating on seeds out there available in the market. As soon as bought, you can not return them. So it’s higher to retailer seeds out of your backyard, as there isn’t a compromise on their well being.”
For the previous 14 years, she has been rising seasonal greens and has been gathering seeds of a lot of the produce grown at house. “Consider me, storing seeds at house makes your gardening work very straightforward. It doesn’t require lots of effort,” provides the 56-year-old gardener.
In dialog with The Higher India, Anupama shares 10 straightforward tricks to retailer seeds in summer time to have the ability to sow them within the subsequent season.
- You’ll be able to retailer seeds of watermelon, muskmelon, galka (sponge gourd), pumpkin, valor papdi (subject beans), and kakdi (Armenian cucumber), and so forth on this season (Could-end).
- Each watermelon and muskmelon are fruit vegetation and might simply be grown on terraces. After cleansing the seeds, allow them to dry on tissue paper.
- Let the greens like cucumber, ridge gourd, bottle gourd, okra, and various kinds of beans dry on the plant as an alternative of plucking them.
- Wait till the greens dry up and alter their color to brown. You’ll be able to scoop out the seeds at that stage.
- Keep away from storing seeds from the greens purchased available in the market, as farmers harvest pre-mature produce. “Even if you wish to retailer seeds from the market greens, guarantee that the greens are fully ripened. As an example, a ripened karela (bitter gourd) is pink in color and its seed can be utilized to retailer.”
- After scooping out seeds, hold them in a clear and hermetic plastic or glass container.
- Retailer seeds within the fridge at a relentless temperature. Don’t deep freeze them. It’s also possible to retailer them in a matka (earthen pot) as nicely.
- Add charcoal powder contained in the container to guard seeds from insect assaults.
- You’ll be able to retailer seeds for a 12 months. “There’s a specific age until the seeds are fertile, just like human beings. After a 12 months, its gene will turn out to be weak and result in low fruiting or no plant development in any respect,” she says.
- Within the case of watermelon and muskmelon, sow the saved seeds within the first week of December to get fruits in March. Sow different summer time crops like kakdi in winter. Greens like karela might be harvested throughout Could and sown 45 days previous to the monsoon to get fruiting.
Edited by Pranita Bhat; All photographs courtesy Anupama Desai
