Growing your own food saves you money but saving seeds saves time, money and varieties that have been winners in your garden.
The first of two free workshops on Sunday April 7th at combine street community gardens teaches how to successfully save and store your own seeds and Workshop two on the same day teaches how to propagate plants.
Seed saving helps to preserve varieties that have a track record in your garden and under your climate and soil conditions.
Peter lewis talks about his own experience. “We bought a second hand washing machine from Lennox heads years ago and we commented on the seller’s beans. He told us he’d been growing and saving those seeds for 50 years and they were a tasty easy to grow variety. We labeled those beans ‘washing machine beans’ and have been very happy with them ever since.
Vegetables seeds sometimes have certain qualities you want to preserve. They might be resistant to insect attack or disease or fruit earlier or later or have a superior taste to store bought varieties.
So apart from saving money you avoid genetically modified crops or plants grown for commercial success but low on taste.
The first workshop on seed saving starts at 9am and the second on plant propagation starts at 11.30 am
The two workshops are part of a series of sustainability workshops funded by envirofund through City of Coffs Harbour.
They are free to everyone and you can register through the Coffs regional community gardens website.