Seed to Seed

Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners

Suzanne Ashworth

"An estimated 60 million Americans grow a portion of their own food in a vegetable garden. Their planting needs are supplied by 255 mail order seed companies, countless local outlets for seeds and plants, and the ever-present grocery store seed rack . . . There have always been a substantial minority of gardeners, however, who bypass the garden seed industry completely by saving their own seeds from year to year. Some of these seed savers, remnants of a recently lost peasant agriculture which purchased nothing that could be produced at home, are still planting the same vegetable varieties that their great-grandparents grew. Other new converts to seed saving may be trying to save something special discovered along the way, or to obtain unique plant material not available commercially. Still others have simply been touched by the powerful satisfaction that comes from a garden which is genuinely self-perpetuating." --from the Introduction

Seed to Seed is a complete seed-saving guide that describes specific techniques for saving the seeds of 160 different vegetables. This book contains detailed information about each vegetable, including its botanical classification, flower structure and means of pollination, required population size, isolation distance, techniques for caging or hand-pollination, and also the proper methods for harvesting, drying, cleaning, and storing the seeds.

Seed to Seed is widely acknowledged as the best guide available for home gardeners to learn effective ways to produce and store seeds on a small scale. The author has grown seed crops of every vegetable featured in the book, and has thoroughly researched and tested all of the techniques she recommends for the home garden.

This newly updated and greatly expanded Second Edition includes additional information about how to start each vegetable from seed, which has turned the book into a complete growing guide. Local knowledge about seed starting techniques for each vegetable has been shared by expert gardeners from seven regions of the United States-Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast/Gulf Coast, Midwest, Southwest, Central West Coast, and Northwest.

Seed to Seed is the wisest guide to seed saving and grassroots genetic preservation you will ever find. Suzanne Ashworth has distilled the best information from researchers and the Seed Savers Exchange to guide vegetable gardeners from all walks of life."

--Gary Paul Nabhan, author of The Desert Smells Like Rain, Gathering the Desert, Enduring Seeds, The Geography of Childhood, and Songbirds, Truffles and Wolves

About the Author

Suzanne Ashworth is an educational administrator living in Sacramento, California, whose spare time and large backyard are completely devoted to gardening. Suzanne has donated the text of Seed to Seed to help support the work of the Seed Savers Exchange, a genetic preservation organization with 8,000 members who are working together to maintain and distribute heirloom varieties of vegetables, fruits, grains, flowers, and herbs.