Herb Garden Seed And Its Process
One of the best ways for gardeners to spend an autumn day is strolling through an herb garden that’s setting seed. The plants send up a fragrant aroma as your legs brush against their branches, and flower petals cling to their last bit of summer color. You will be able to replant your herb garden next year using materials you already have in hand by collecting seeds from your garden herbs.
How Seeds Form
Before you start saving seed from your herb garden, it’s a good idea to make sure you understand the basics of plant reproduction. Plants grow from seed. A seed that has just sprouted will have two leaves. Leaves will sprout new leaves and keep doing so until a plant is formed. In order to nourish the leaves above the ground, the seed also sprouts downward into the soil.
The plant’s strongest desire is to reproduce just like everything else in nature. Plants reproduce from seed; a plant’s mission in life is to produce seed to guarantee the survival of its species. Plants are able to produce seeds by growing flowers, these are then pollinated by the wind or bees. As the flower petals shrivel and dry up, the seed matures, and the wind shakes the seed off the plant and onto the ground where it germinates and sprouts two new leaves, and the process repeats itself.
How to Collect Herb Garden Seed
Presumably, you will be harvesting your herb garden plants throughout the growing season and using their leaves and flowers for medicinal or culinary purposes. Halfway through the season, choose a few healthy sturdy stems from where you will collect your herb garden seed. Tie a colored ribbon around the branches to mark them, and stop harvesting leaves from those stems.
Cut the stems at the base once the flowers are almost fully ripened. Have several stems tied together with a rubber band and hang it upside down from a clothesline in a warm, dry room. Place the hanging end of the bundle inside a paper lunch sack, and secure the bag around the bundle with string or a twist tie. After a few days, shake the stems, and fully ripe seeds will drop into the bag.
How to Save Herb Garden Seed
Once you have collected seeds for an herb garden, the seeds will remain viable for several years if they are stored in paper envelopes in a cool, dry place. Be sure to write the name of the herb on the outside of the envelope so you’ll know what you are planting next spring.
