How to save seed from curcurbits. Transcription of the text in the second image is as follows:

seed saving techniques
Isolation and hand-pollination of cucurbit flowers
Cucumber, marrow and squash plants usually have separate male and female flowers, easily distinguished because each female flower has a tiny immature fruit behind it, whereas male flowers sit on straight stalks. 1/5

#SeedSaving #HomeGrown #GrowYourOwn #Allotment #Gardening #SolarPunk

Way too hot outside. But more seedlings have been moved to larger pots (mostly basil) and more seeds have been started (white eggplant, white marigold, 2 kinds of cucumbers.) Only two boxes of seeds left to use up..... lol

Have I mentioned I'm giving away as much as possible of what I start, because I absolutely do not have room for twelve cucumber plants or fifty plus basil... and so. Many. Marigolds.... anyone local want free plants, yell out!

Especially if you want wormwood, because holy crap that stuff came back strong this year.

#gardening #RVAgardens #SeedSaving #RichmondVAgardening

A #botanist searches for the #seeds of the rare #DeathValleySage

April 2, 2026

"For more than 15 years, botanist Naomi Fraga of the #CaliforniaBotanicGarden has been trying to collect seeds from the rare Death Valley sage, for safekeeping in a vault of native California seeds. Each time, she's come home empty handed. But this year, with the desert in the midst of a big bloom, she's trying again.

" 'It's a little bit of a gamble,' she says. 'But, you know, the plant's having a really good year. I feel hopeful.' "

Read more:
https://www.npr.org/sections/the-picture-show/2026/04/01/nx-s1-5749446/botanist-search-seeds-rare-death-valley-sage

#SolarPunkSunday #California #RarePlants #SeedVaults #SeedSaving #RareSeeds #DesertBloom #DeathValley #SuperBloom #PlantPreservation

Tomato seedlings, mostly 3rd-generation-saved Couer de Boi, are germinating here in several different locations.

Even some outdoor cloched ones have come up due to the few recent 25 deg C afternoons, but they wont be liking the current 7.6 C ambient.

The pictured ones (indeed this whole post) are here bcs they've been indoors for nights, and are currently under my high-brightness desk magnifier right by my elbow, at just under 20 C, the threshold for decent growth. Can't really ignore them!

I've not even been outside in the cold heavy cloud drizzle this morning!

The substrate, all home-brew, includes sieved wildfire wood-ash, hence the fragments of shale and black look. It's a superb growth promoter.

The seed was "easy-saved" by simply pressing the sieved material from making passata on kitchen paper towel - including high-speed blending! The towel was quick-sun-dried and stored, then torn into strips to germinate, as shown. The whole process taking not much longer than this post!

#growYourOwn #tomatoes #seedSaving #climateDiary

Are you interested in learning how to save your own vegetable seeds?

This is, by far, the best book I've seen on how to do it!

Seed to Seed, by Suzanne Ashworth

#SeedSaving
#GrowFood
#FoodSovereignty

And it wouldn't hurt to buy it from BookShop.org instead of Amazon. 😀

https://bookshop.org/p/books/seed-to-seed-seed-saving-and-growing-techniques-for-vegetable-gardeners-2nd-edition-suzanne-ashworth/b388fe7b13ee0c43?ean=9781882424580&next=t