By Jessica Hearne, CBF field personnel
As our Urban Farm leaders are developing their skills in the garden, I find that they are also pushing me to develop new gardening skills.
This season, B. especially has been challenging me to think about new questions and new methods. In addition to managing a garden bed at our Urban Farm, B. has a bucket garden in her front yard, where she has been growing tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and cabbages.
Around mid-summer this year, B. started texting me about saving seeds. “If we can save our own seeds for next year, then that’s even less we have to buy.” Our focus on making gardening affordable and accessible had really inspired her! Of course, B. was right. I have had success with saving dry seeds like okra, beans and certain flowers, but I began looking up how to save other kinds of seeds, with her questions to guide me.
We learned that watermelons have to be allowed to overripen on the vine, and so a grocery store melon wouldn’t have viable seeds. We also learned about allowing tomato seeds to ferment in the tomato pulp for a few days before drying them out, and we used our research to save our tomato seeds for the first time.
To learn more about Jessica’s work, visit: https://www.classy.org/campaign/jessica-hearne/c104695