As I dig deeper into hobby gardening, I’ve experimented with starting seeds in late winter to jumpstart the growing season. This practice saves money, and I find it immensely satisfying to watch seedlings emerge under a grow light indoors, especially when I’m still hibernating from frozen temperatures. Once you have your grow system in place, there’s a huge cost savings in buying seeds and soil compared with buying green-house plants to transplant. Even better, it can become an endless cycle if you save seeds at harvest time.
Multiple books in the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Store teach seed-saving. Simply click on the “Gardening” tab and select “Seeds & Seed Starting.” I recommend by Jim Ulager. The author covers a variety of seed-saving topics, including principles of vegetative and sexual reproduction, easy inbreeding plants, more challenging plants, and why seed-saving belongs in the home garden. I
