The Real Seed Catalogue

The best vegetable seeds for the Kitchen Garden

VEGETABLE SEEDS Aubergines Beans Beetroot Broccoli & Rapini Brussels Sprouts Cabbage Cauliflower Carrots Celery Chilli Peppers Courgettes & Summer Squash Cucumbers, Gherkins & suchlike things Fennel Flowers Grains Leaf Greens for Cooking Kale Leeks Lettuces Melons & Watermelons Mustard Greens ( for cooking) Herbs Onions Oriental Greens for cooking & salads Parsnips Peas Pumpkins & Winter Squash Radishes (salad, & cooking types) Salad Vegetables Sweet Corn Swedes Sweet Peppers Tomatoes : Bush Types Tomatoes : Vine Types Tomatoes : New Centiflor types Tomatilloes & Groundcherries Turnips Unusual Tubers: Oca & Ulluco Mini-Collections Useful Books Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties   SEEDSAVING Why Save Your Own Seed? How to Save Seed Start a Seed Circle! Seedsaving Book Threshing & Winnowing Drying your seed Isolation cage plans Seedsaving Courses   INFORMATION Read past Newsletters Give us Feedback Browse the Reference Section Tips for Beginners Guide to Summer Sowing Guide to Autumn/Winter Sowing   PAYMENT

Threshing & Winnowing Seed Lots of seed comes in pods, or with feathery bits attached. Usually stomping on the dry seedpods will break it all up & release the seed, but then how do you get rid of all the bits? Often the answer is to winnow. Because the bits are lighter than the seed, they blow away in a breeze. Harvest . . . So, you've decided its time to harvest. Cut the whole stem off, and pile on an old sheet somewhere airy (and bird-free - they love the seed) to dry. ...Thresh . . . . Once dry, jump all over them and you'll get lots of seed mixed with broken up stem & pods. For things like oats and chard that have tough glumes or are well-attached to the stems, a great trick is to stomp and stamp it on a rubber mat. The rubber grips the plant material but is soft enough to stop the seeds being damaged. So you've got this pile of stems and stalks and seeds - shake the pile & the seeds will fall to the bottom, and you can just pull off most of the big bits of rubbish now. ...and Winnow Then to get the rest out, pour the seed and bits from one bucket to another in a breeze - the bits will blow away, and the seed will remain.