S MAGAZINE ★ 11 AUGUST 2019 51
Reader of fers
Get in trim
Make easy work of garden jobs
with these lightweight, compact
cordless shears. Powered by a
lithium-ion battery, the shears
come with an 80mm cutting
blade for tackling lawn edges
and a trimming blade that will
slice through hedges, shrubs
and bushes up to 8mm (3¼in)
in diameter. To order for
£29.99, plus £4.95 UK
mainland p&p (£6.95, Northern
Ireland), call 0871 664 2451
and quote 94670. Calls cost
12p per minute plus your
network access charge.WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SUBSTITUTE ANY VARIETIES FOR OTHERS OF EQUAL OR GREATER VALUEGARDENING
alpines, shrubs and wild flowers
as soon as possible after
collecting them, since they often
have rather short-term viability.
Vegetables, obviously, need
to be stored to sow the following
spring, but don’t keep them
in plastic bags or the seeds,
particularly peas and beans, will
sweat and suffer fungal attack.
Instead, save them in paper
envelopes stored in a cardboard
box or drawer in a cool, dry, indoor
room where the temperature
doesn’t fluctuate. Add some silica
gel sachets to keep the humidity
low and use the seeds next
season. Germination won’t be as
good as with seeds you buy, so
keep plenty to make up for it.
There’s no point in saving seeds
of F1 hybrids of flowers or veg
unless you don’t mind a real lucky
dip, since the offspring won’t
necessarily resemble its parent
plant. A random mixture of flowers
can be charming in a cottagey
situation when you aren’t too
bothered about quality, but random
veg seedlings from F1 parents are
very disappointing and not worth
the time or space.
For these and all your key
displays, such as bedding plants
for your patio, it still pays to buy
seeds and sow the best. But for
anything else, saving-your-own can
be a smart move financially and
a surprisingly satisfying hobby.fun and some free seeds,
then don’t worry about cross-
pollination. Go ahead and save
seeds of plants like pansies
and violas, poppies, aquilegias,
foxgloves and hellebores. They
are well known for cross-pollinating
very freely but even though they
won’t all look exactly the same
as their parents, the offspring
are usually charming and well
worth having.
So how is it done? Well, it’s very
easy. With flowers, get into the
habit of wandering around the
garden regularly during the
summer, watching for signs of
seedpods forming on plants you
want to save from. It’s often a
good idea to take some paper
bags and string, so you can pop
a bag securely over a likely
candidate and you don’t lose
the seeds if the pod splits.
Collect annuals when the seeds
are ripe, but with trees and
shrubs, it’s worth retrieving the
seed before the capsules or pods
are quite mature. Let them dry
under cover and remove the seeds
from the pods along with any plant
debris or other rubbish. With
vegetables, you will need to leave
a few plants of each crop to
mature so they form seeds – and
give them time to ripen before
separating and saving them.
For best results, sow home-
saved seeds of hardy plants,But there’s a knack to seed
saving. The first thing to realise is
that not all seeds are suitable for
it. The best are pure botanical
species, which include a lot of
alpines, rare perennials, such
as Veratrum nigrum, and some
not-so-rare types, including
Cerinthe major “Purpurascens”.
Also worth saving are bulb
species like snake’s head fritillary,
Fritillaria meleagris, and hooped
petticoat Narcissus bulbocodium,
as well as wild flowers and native
trees and shrubs.
Others to keep are open-
pollinated varieties – mostly
old-fashioned hardy annual flowers
such as nasturtiums, poppies,
aquilegias, pansies and calendula
marigolds, as well as old varieties
of sweet peas, such as Painted
Lady, and ancient varieties of
veg, particularly broad beans,
French beans, peas and pumpkins.
These have been produced by
years of pollinating with other
plants of the same variety so
all the offspring are more or less
identical to their parents.
If you are saving seed seriously
it pays to grow these varieties
a good distance away from other
varieties of the same plant type,
or they’ll cross pollinate and
your next generation of plants
will be mongrels.
If you’re not too bothered about
named varieties and just fancy thesa
th
itFoxgloveNodding acquaintance
This hardy and easy-to-grow
Fritillaria meleagris – or snake’s
head fritillary – mixture
naturalises and multiplies well
and produces dainty, nodding
purple and white flowers. Order
25 Fritillaria meleagris mixed
bulbs for £7.99 or buy 100
half-price at £15.98. All prices
include p&p. Order online at
shop.express.co.uk/EXP501,
call 0871 664 1469 or send
a cheque, payable to Express
Newspapers, to Express Offer
EXP501, 14 Hadfield Street,
Old Trafford, Manchester M16
9FG. Delivery is within 28 days.●S