Yesterday we harvested well over 100,000 (500 grams) red russian kale seeds without any effort or maintenance from about 10 plants! The best part is that it only took 5 minutes to harvest them. Check it out! And there are a few purple sprouting broccoli plants on their way. Brassicas are biennial, another words they have a life span of 2 years. In the first year they build up strength and a good strong root system to then go to flower and make seeds in the second year. Please note that you will need about 20 brassica plants of the same variety to make for a good gene pool and make sure to plant other varieties as far away as possible not to mix them.
Doing your own seed saving is absolutely worth it, especially when you create a low maintenance garden (aka no dig and mulched). This enables you to keep more plants for a longer period of time with a lot less work. Nature always tends to grow towards abundance when you give it a chance.
The rooster at the end of the video is up for adoption to a good home for free as we have 2 more roosters. He is an excellent rooster and does a great job at keeping the hens safe. Please contact us if you want to take him: https://gardensforlife.ie/contact-us
For those of you that missed the general seed saving info:
Saving seeds from plants in your own garden has many advantages.
- Your plants will adapt to your local condition and grow stronger year after year.
- You can save money and harvest large amounts of top quality fresh seeds.
- You can keep varieties that are no longer available for sale.
- You will become more self-reliant.
- You can develop your own varieties of fruit, flowers and vegetables.
- You can share excess seeds and plant material with friends, then you’ve got a backup.