Seed Sowing and Saving: Step-by-Step Techniques for Collecting and Growing More Than 100 Vegetables, Flowers, and Herbs (Gardening Skills Illustrated) [Paperback]

Carole B. Turner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 1998 | Series: Gardening Skills Illustrated

Those pricey transplants set out on display every spring are so tempting with their leafy faces pleading, “take me home!”  But beware, you never know where those seedlings have been – Crammed in a pest-infested greenhouse?  Packed for days in a sweltering truck?

                Start your plants from seeds and you know that’s your precious vegetable, herb, or flower has been nurtured with tender loving care every day of its life.  And better yet, when you harvest seeds for next year’s crop, you’ll get even more plants absolutely FREE!

                In this book you’ll find everything you need to know to successfully harvest seeds from more than 100 common vegetables, annuals, perennials, herbs, and wildflowers, then dry and store them for maximum viability. You’ll also learn how to start seeds indoors to get a jump start on the season, and to prepare your soil beds for planting.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Turner demystifies the techniques of seed saving for modern gardeners in this practical guide…Reader-friendly prose, illustrative line drawings and master gardening tips will likely embolden even the most hesitant gardener to embark on a seed-saving adventure.”

Publishers Weekly

 

“Everything you wanted to know about saving flower and vegetable seeds but were afraid to ask.”

Newark Star-Ledger

 

“Turner’s guide is chock-full of advice on how to harvest and store seeds from more than 100 common vegetables, annuals, perennials, herbs, and wildflowers.”

Tulsa World

 “A practical book for the gardener interested in a more active role in the adventure of gardening.”

The Herb Companion

 

From the Back Cover

Free Plants!

From Simple Seed-Saving Techniques

Here's all the information and guidance you need to start saving seeds from your favorite vegetables, herbs, and flowers and grow even more plants next year.

Dozens of at-a-glance charts and over 300 step-by-step illustrations show you how to determine when seeds are ready for harvest, how to collect them, and how to store them. Plus, you get time-proven tips, the kind that only an experienced horticulturalist can share, for starting seeds right.

Seed Sowing and Saving is packed with solid advice and information that teaches you how to:

* Successfully harvest seeds from more than 100 common vegetables, annuals, perennials, herbs, and wildflowers

* Dry and store seeds, and test seeds for viability

* Sow seeds indoors to get a head start on the growing season

* Prepare soil and garden beds for transplants or direct sowing

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC; First Edition edition (January 2, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580170013
• ISBN-13: 978-1580170017
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.6 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #96,995 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #61 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > By Region
  • #92 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > Flowers

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I needed January 5, 2003

By Maulbeere

I bought this after seeing it as one of the few books offered by Vesseys Seeds (vesseys.com). (It was listed at[money] - lucky for me I often comparison shop.) Many propagation books contain information on seed starting, but because this one concentrates on seed propagation, it has more room to expand on the topic and gives more than books that have to save space to discuss other techniques like cuttings, dividing, layering etc. It discusses seed saving plant by plant, and contained an entry for nearly every plant I looked up.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars my review February 11, 2005

A Kid's Review

I liked the fact that this book not only contained information on saving & sowing seeds for EACH type of flower of vegetable, but also contained info about starting seeds in general. It contains VERY, VERY, VERY useful info. I thought I was an advanced gardener, but I learned some things from this book.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars It's not bad... July 24, 2010

By Veracity79

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is my first year learning how to preserve seed from my heirloom garden. I think this book was helpful in doing that so far, however, I'm not overly impressed with some of the explanations...it just seems to need a little bit more. For example, some areas that are describing seed preservation want you to put the seeds into water and allow the viable seed to drop to bottom and the "bad" seed to float to the top, okay no problem...but then she fails to tell you how long that can take...even a ballpark estimate. She just says to stir the water so mold doesn't form...so I am assuming that would mean on a daily basis? For how many days? Do all the viable seeds drop to the bottom of the bowl at once and then it's time to drain? Does it happen over the course of several days? Then there are areas of the book that describe the seed saving techniques very thoroughly. Another smaller issue I had was just wishing there was more on herbs. The only herb she discussed was parsley, and on that one she says that you are not supposed to save seed from the first year you grow it...but no real information that I could see as to why.

So I guess the bottom line for me is that I'm going to have to purchase another book to cross reference with this one because I just don't feel it was as thorough as it should have or could have been, especially for a 14 dollar PAPERback book. I would say it's worthy of about half of that price. There is definitely useful information in it...it just isn't as complete as I would have hoped. I think I'll be purchasing the Seed to Seed book next...