Get your fall and winter garden growing!

Kale in the winter garden

Saturday, August 23, 2025 The great thing about fall and winter edible gardens is little to no pests!  The insects die off in fall so your harvest is safe from pest destruction.  Once you have spent the effort to get the plants established and cool weather is here, fall and winter gardening is very low maintenance.  As it gets cooler, the veggies will get sweeter, too.

 

For more on how to choose varieties to grow, starting seeds and transplanting, see this post.  Time to plant for fall and winter harvests!   You're targeting for your edibles to be full size by early November before daylight hours dwindle to less than 10.  The winter slow down  

 

Look at the germination temperatures of the cool season crops you are starting from seed as some will not germinate well in the hot summer temperatures and you may have better luck starting them in shade or indoors.  Lettuce is one that germinates best at temperatures below 70F.  I like to start my seeds in pots in the shade on our north covered patio.  It gets morning sun but is shaded all afternoon.  Being on the patio lets me keep a close eye on them, too.  After they sprout and are a good size, I move into their permanent spot.

 

Here is a by month schedule of what to plant for fall and winter harvests in a Midwest garden. 

 

June

Seeds-Parsnips, potatoes 

 

July

Seeds-Beets, carrots, Asian greens (pak choi, tat-soi), cilantro, collard greens, endive, escarole, frisee, fennel, green beans, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, mustard, onions, parsnips, rutabaga, scallions, lettuce, sweet corn, turnips, turnip greens, and Swiss chard.  

Transplants-broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, Bibb lettuce.

 

August

Seeds-Beets, carrots, greens (arugula, Chinese cabbage, collard greens, corn salad, kale, lettuce, miner’s lettuce, spinach, mustard, endive, turnip greens), fava beans, green beans, herbs, kohlrabi, onions, snap peas, scallions, snow peas, rutabaga, winter and summer radishes, and turnips.  Early August is last chance for cucumbers, squash, and corn.

Transplants-Asian greens, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, endive, kale, lettuce.  

 

September

Seeds-hardy lettuce and greens, kale, collards, turnips, radishes, kohlrabi, spinach, Asian greens, scallions, carrots, and winter radishes.  Quick maturing peas, favas, and bush beans at beginning of the month. 

Transplants-hardy lettuces, spinach, collards, broccoli, all perennials, trees, shrubs, greens, spinach

Greens in a portable greenhouse

October

Seeds-more spinach, kale, traditional southern and Asian greens, carrots, winter radishes, beets, short day onions if overwintering, peas, perennial onions, garlic and shallots.  In our Zone 7 garden, garlic and shallots can be planted into November.  Order your favorite garlic early as many sell out quick.  Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......

 

If you don’t want to start seeds, have waited too long for seed starting or just want to see what varieties do well in your area, some big box stores and local nurseries will have fall planting veggies.   If none in your area do, there are many mail order seed companies that carry fall bedding plants.

 

  Late August, early September is the best time to get transplants into the garden for fall and winter harvests.  Don't forget to fertilize when planting like you would in the spring.  Keep your transplants watered for them to get established until the fall rains start.

 

Extend the harvest by covering when the first frosts and freezes come to those crops that don’t overwinter without cover.  I grow all my greens and lettuce in pots that I cover around Thanksgiving when it gets consistently down in the 20’s.  I’ll still have lettuce and greens growing in the spring.

What I planted this week for fall eating

"Well used" self watering pot I started my lettuce seeds in

Sunday, August 17, 2025

I started a variety of seeds on Friday for harvesting all fall and winter.  With a portable greenhouse, you can keep the Midwest lettuce salads going all the way to next spring.  This fall, my sowings are for lettuce, arugula, snow peas, chard, leaf mustards, chards, kales and other greens.

The challenge to starting cool season lovers from seed this time of year is that it can be so hot.  Lettuce seeds and other cool season loving plants will not germinate well in ground temps above 70 degrees F.  There are a couple of options for summer time seeding.  You can grow in shade, cover with a shade cloth or start your seedlings indoors move outdoors after they have sprouted.  Right now, it is hot with yesterday's high of 100 and the low of 73F.  The temperatures are supposed to go down somewhat next week with highs in the upper 80's and lows in the 60's.  Hopefully, this will be cool enough for my seeds to sprout.  Outdoor seed starting tips

I like to start in rectangular, self watering pots on our covered patio, close to the watering can on the northeast side of the house. Most of what I have sown will be up in 7 days if kept well watered and the temperatures are conducive.  I let them grow until they have the first set of true leaves and are about 2” tall.  I then transplant them into their permanent home, keeping them well watered for another couple of weeks.  I'll also keep an eye on the temperatures as highs in the 80's can cause cool temperature crops to bolt.  The trick this time of year to planting is getting the plants close to full size by November when daylight hours are too short to support growing.

Here is what I planted.  Be sure to label your seed rows!

Lettuces

You can start to harvest lettuce leaves in as little as 20 days from sowing.  I like to plant a variety of lettuces as they mature at different times.  This is a way to get a continuous crop of lettuce for salads.  I may have went a little overboard this time!  When the temperatures head to the 20's, I'll cover my greens with a portable greenhouse to keep the harvests coming all the way to spring.

Winter Density-a romaine type that is full size in 54 days

Tango-a leaf lettuce that is frilly and light green, full size in 45 days

Landis Winter-a butterhead lettuce that reaches full size in 50 days

North Pole-another butterhead lettuce that is full size in 50 days

Winter Crop-a headed lettuce so approximately 50-60 days

Winterwunder-a loose leaf that is full size in 60 days

Little Red Romaine-a romaine that is full size in 50 days

Bronze Beauty-full size in 40-50 days

Grand Rapids-full size in 45-60 days

Rouge d'Hiver-full size in 60 days

Royal Oak Leaf-full size in 45-55 days

Butter King-full size in 60 days

Red Sails-full size in 45-50 days

Celtuce-Chinese stem lettuce full size in 50-80 days

Spotted Aleppo Syrian Romaine-full size in 50-60 days

Rocky Top lettuce blend-35-50 days to full size

Spinach

Giant Winter-full size in 45-55 days

Oriental Giant-full size in 40 days

Greens

Provencal Winter mix-a variety of greens

Arctic Tundra mix-a variety of greens

Roquette Arugula-full size in 42 days

Mizuna Pink-40 days to full size

Hilton Chinese Cabbage-70 days to full size

Chijimisai Greens-full size in 50-60 days

Chinese Yellow Heart winter choy-45-70 days to full size

Swiss Chard

Barese Swiss chard-full size in 50 days

Japanese Mountain Spinach Swiss chard-full size in 30-40 days

Peas

Little Purple Snow Pea-27" vine, 50 days to harvest

Fruits for next spring

Mignonette Alpine Strawberry

Regina Alpine Strawberry

Ornamentals

Japanese Flowering Kale

Flowering Kale

Platinum Blue flower

Scarlet Echinacea cultivar-since it is seed saved from a cultivar, it may not produce the same as the parent

Blue Fescue grass

All of the greens will have leaves that are harvestable in about half the number of days to get to full size.  On the flip side, it generally takes longer for fall crops to get to full size than the packet says as the temperatures are getting cooler and the daylight shorter going into fall than in spring time.  A rule of thumb is 2 weeks longer to full size.

I like self watering pots because you can fill the reservoir without directly watering the soil surface.  With lettuce the seeds take light to germinate so they are very close to the surface.  Watering the soil itself can dislodge the seeds and move them all around the pot.  This isn't a catastrophe if you have all the same type planted in a pot, but since I have 8 varieties in the same pot, I don't want them moving around so I can see what germinates and how well they do through the season.  

You can start your seeds in any container you prefer.  If you do a coir or peat pot, you can just plant the entire thing in the garden bed after the seedling is up and going strong.  The drawback is that they have to be watered more as so much moisture wicks out of the permeable pot.

 

For this round, I watered the soil well, then planted the seeds, labelling each mini row in my rectangular pots that I start seeds in.  I will continue misting the top to keep the soil moist and filling the reservoir from the bottom.  You don't want the soil to dry out before the seeds have germinated.

After the seedlings are up, I'll wait until they have a few leaves and are about 2" or so tall before transplanting into larger pots for the winter.  Since I planted in August this year instead of September, I will also need to wait for the temperatures to cool down before transplanting.  I cover all my larger self watering pots later in the season when temperatures begin dipping into the 20's with a portable greenhouse to keep the greens going all winter.  How to extend the garden season

If you want to direct seed in your mulched flower bed, dig a shallow trench about a quarter inch deep, fill with potting soil, seed, pat down, then cover lightly with more potting soil.  Water well with a gentle stream of water so you don’t wash the seed away.  I use a rain head on my watering can.  Even better is to get the soil moist, then scatter the seeds, cover lightly with potting soil and pat gently.  Growing fabulous lettuce and greens 

I also have Purple Sprouting broccoli, Giant Blue Feather lettuce, other types of chard, Utah celery, and parsley that has self-seeded.  I should have plenty of greens for salads all the way through winter with covering my self-watering pots over these winter hardy plants.  

My top 10 seed saving tips

Seeds from heirloom tomato bought in store

Saturday, August 16, 2025

Saving seeds has been the foundation of farming since it began thousands of years ago.  Seed saving is easy and saves you money.  Always save the seed from the best vegetable you grew! Or the tastiest you buy at the farmers market or store.

 

1.  Pick the fruit or plant that has the characteristics you want to grow again.  The one that was the biggest or had the best taste or produced the most or produced the longest or gave you harvests the earliest or was the most drought or pest resistant.  Whatever characteristic that you want to have in your garden next year is the plant's seeds you want to save from this year. 

2.  One caveat, you cannot get "true to parent" plants from hybrids or cultivars.  If they grow, they will often be totally different than the parent or could get weaker with each generation.  You need “open pollinated” or heirloom vegetables for the seed to for sure produce a baby like the parent.  You can always save seed from hybrids to try as an experiment, but don't be surprised if it is very different from the parent plant.  

3.  Some plants “cross pollinate” with others like it if close to each other.  Others rarely do.  The ones that do not are called “self-pollinating”, ie, they pollinate themselves.  Examples of cross pollinators are zucchini, pumpkins, and zinnias.  If you want to save seeds from them, you’ll have to either grow only one variety or plant them a mile apart and hope your neighbors aren’t growing them, too!

4.     It doesn't cost a thing to save seeds from store bought veggies or fruits you like and you can end up with some great plants for your garden!  To be sure that the seeds you save will come back true to the parent, heirloom is a sure bet.  One of my favorite paste tomatoes is one I saved the seed from a tomato bought from the store.

5.     Do not save seeds from any diseased plant as the disease can be in the seed itself and passed to the new plant.  You wouldn't want to save seed from a plant that is susceptible to disease any way.  You want to save seeds from plants that thrive in your garden conditions.  

6.     For garlic, you save the best, biggest cloves.  You divide up the garlic head into individual cloves and plant them in the fall when it cools off.  Typically, sometime in October or November.  Most store bought garlic has been treated to prevent them from sprouting so you may or may not have luck using the ones from the grocery store.  Organic garlic is not treated. Your farmers market is also a great place to get garlic well suited for your area.

7.  In our garden, seeds can be saved from tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce, broccoli, cilantro, dill, celery, borage, salad burnet, garlic, okra, Egyptian walking onions (bulblets), and basil.  I have many zinnia, amaranth, garlic chives, celosia, and basil "volunteers" in the garden every year from seeds dropped by the plant last fall.

8.  For peppers, squash and tomatoes, just scoop out the seeds, lay them on a paper towel on a plate and let them dry completely.  Some suggest for tomato seed to put them in water and let them ferment a bit.  The ones that sink are the ones you want to keep for planting, not the ones that float.  After drying, I put in plastic baggies and keep in the frig to prolong seed life.  Don't forget to label the variety and date saved.

I have finally found/grown two kinds of sweet peppers that produce well.  I'll keep saving the seed and growing them out.  They are now a mainstay for my garden.  This year I had great luck with California bell peppers so I will try these again next season. 

9.   Many greens, like chard, parsley, lettuce, broccoli, will shoot a large stalk up then flower.  This is called "bolting."  The easiest thing to do is to let the seeds form, cut the stalk, then put the stalks with seed heads attached into a paper bag.  Let them dry thoroughly, then shake the seeds out.  Some may require that you roll the seed heads between your fingers to free the seed.  

You can actually re-sow seeds from cool season crops like lettuce, cilantro, parsley, chard, chives and get a second fall/winter harvest!  I re-sow seeding about every other week starting the first of September.  In about two weeks, you will have sprouting greens.  When they have grown a bit more, I will separate and transplant into pots and the garden.  I like starting seeds in long narrow pots what are self-watering to be able to move easily to the best growing conditions.  Can also move under the portable greenhouse when it gets cold.

 10.   I put my dried seeds in labelled ziplock bags and store them in the refrigerator, include the seed type, descriptor and date.  A picture of the plant can be helpful to remember the plant the seed belongs to.  Fun gift to give, too.  You can use any sealed container to save seeds.  The seeds last for years this way! 

Last year, I have saved seeds from the best tasting butternut squash I have grown ever, Giant Blue Feather lettuce, Egyptian walking onions, garlic, orange Cactus and California Giant zinnias, cockscomb, Turkish Orange and Antigua eggplant, my bushiest sweet basil and Cardinal basil, Purple Yard Long and Blauhilde pole beans, Christmas Speckles lima beans, many different types of squash and Jigsaw pepper seeds.  I left my celery, Red Malabar spinach, celosias, and some Giant Blue Feather lettuce plants go to seed for volunteers in the spring.

 

For more information on gardening, see these blogs:

What do the terms GMO, natural, heirloom, organic, hybrid really mean?

October is prime time to plant garlic

Try self-seeding veggies and flowers

Tomatoes 101, everything you need to know to grow ...
Growing zucchini and summer squash
Warm joys of winter squash

 Peppers are for every taste and garden

Ideal soil temperatures for starting your seeds
Outdoor seed starting tips

My top 10 heat loving fruits and veggies

Potted eggplant with petunia

Sunday, August 10, 2025

  

We are breaking heat records left and right in our Midwest edible garden this summer.  There are many crops that thrive in this weather as long as they get adequate moisture.  For some edibles like Mediterranean herbs, they'll do well even without watering.  Others like squash, cucumbers, eggplant and beans will produce much more with supplemental watering as needed during dry spells.    

My Top 10 Heat Loving Edibles

1. Herbs.  Most Mediterranean herbs thrive in this heat.  Rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, chives, and basil all do well being left on their own.  Watering and fertilizing will increase basil growth.  The other herbs have more intense flavor without watering and are best harvested in the late afternoon when their oils are at the most intense.  I have found a heat loving substitute for cilantro-papalo.  It grows over 3 feet tall so I only need one.
2. Greens.  Heat loving greens in my garden are Red Malabar spinach that is a vine with maroon stem and flowers, all varieties of amaranth, cockscomb, orach and Giant Blue Feather lettuce.  I am growing a chard that is doing great and will keep as a standby in my summer garden-Barese Chard.  For salads and sandwiches, I'll add lemon balm, sorrel, plantain, and herbs with the greens.
3. Peppers.  I grow most of my peppers, both sweet and hot in pots.  They seem to do well in pots.  They do appreciate being on the north or east side of the house when the temperatures are in the 90's for weeks on end as they have been here.
4. Eggplant.  I am growing all my eggplant in pots.  They do very well even in the intense heat in pots.  They are from India so evolved in hot, humid conditions.  You just have to make sure you are giving them enough water and pick the fruits when they are young to avoid the bitterness that more mature fruits can have in extreme heat.
5. Vining Beans.  I have grown my beans in large pots or in the garden bed.  This year I am growing all but winged bean in the ground.  Winged bean and Yard Long bean plants seem to be thriving in these hot days.  Both will produce until frost.
6. Cucumbers.  My cucumbers are also from India and are producing well.  I have way more cucumbers than I can eat from 2 plants of Bush Champion and that includes making pickles!
7. Okra.  Okra is a real heat lover.  They are beautiful plants with lovely flowers.  I am growing Red Burgundy which always does well in my garden.
8. Zucchini.  I am growing Trombetta again this year.  They seem impervious to squash bugs and powdery mildew.  They produce a couple of fruits a week and continue right through frost so you are never inundated with too many fruits.
9. Melons.  Melons are heat lovers.  I have 2 different varieties growing and both seem quite happy and have fruits.
10. Goji berry.  Goji berry bushes get into their groove in late summer and will produce berries until frost.  You can pick and eat fresh or I like to freeze them and add to my morning yogurt.  Very high in antioxidants.  You have to leave them on the stem for a bit after turning red for them to sweeten up.  

 Beat the Heat Strategies

Aside from planting crops that like the heat and humidity, there are strategies for keeping summer maintenance at a minimum and maximizing the harvest.  The requirements for growth and fruiting of edibles are enough sun, adequate moisture, the right varieties, nutrition, and pest avoidance.

In the cooler days of spring, giving your plants as much sunshine as you can, stimulates growth.  As the mercury climbs, plants appreciate some shade, particularly in the hottest part of the day.  If you are growing in pots, you can just move the pot from a full sun location to one that provides some afternoon shade.  If growing in the garden bed, you can grow plants that grow taller on the sun side of your edibles to provide shade as summer progresses.  You can also move pots of sun lovers in front of your edibles or use a sun shade.

Most edibles appreciate about an inch of water each week if they are planted in the ground; double that if grown in a pot.  To keep the moisture in the soil, use a soaker hose and cover with a mulch.  This keeps the water in the ground where the plants can use it.  Keep a log of when it rains and how much it has rained.  You don't need to water your garden bed if you have gotten 1" of rain during the week.  You can also buy a timer and set it to water once a week so you don't forget.  

For edibles in pots, use larger pots that hold more soil and therefore more moisture or buy pots that have a water reservoir (also called self-watering pot).  Cover the soil with mulch to keep the moisture from evaporating.  You can also use lighter colored pots and plastic or fiberglass pots that keep moisture in.  Moving the pots to a shadier location will also decrease the watering needs.  

Also look for varieties that are grown in your area or under similar conditions to your garden.  You can google where the seed company grows their seeds or buy from companies that specialize in garden varieties that do well in your conditions.  For me, Baker Creek grows many of their seeds in southwest Missouri and Southern Exposure specializes in varieties for the south so both are good fits for my garden conditions.

Look at the seed packet or internet description for the variety you are buying.  Terms like "drought tolerant", "heat resistant", "disease resistant" are all good ones for our hot and humid summer conditions.

Keeping your plants well fed so that they have everything they need to grow well also helps plants stay strong and produce as much as possible.  For greens, they use a lot of nitrogen.  For fruiting plans, they need all 3 of the NPK combo.  You can use a general fertilizer for greens and a tomato fertilizer for all fruiting vegetable plants.  Typically for fruiting plants, you fertilize when you transplant, again when the plant flowers and then monthly thereafter.  For greens, I fertilize at planting and then monthly.  

You can buy all natural fertilizer stakes that advertise to be good for the whole season so you can fertilize once.  

Harvesting frequently also stimulates that plant to keep producing.  I pick beans, eggplant, squash and cucumbers when they are fully ripe.  I pick tomatoes and peppers just when they start to turn.  If I leave tomatoes on the plant until they are fully ripe, the birds and raccoons start sampling before I get them picked!

Last is pest avoidance.  There are a variety of ways to practice pest avoidance.  You can companion plant so one plant deters another's pests like tomatoes with basil and marigolds.  You can time your planting to avoid a pest like waiting until mid June to plant squash to avoid the vine borer or harvesting broccoli as soon as you see the cabbage worm moth fluttering about.  You can plant two crops of tomatoes and squash so that as the early crop is losing steam, the second crop is just getting going.  

Take a walk around the garden on a daily basis looking for any big changes in your plants.  If they are drooping in the morning, they may need a watering.  If the leaves have turned from dark green to a pale green, they may need a nitrogen boost.  If it looks like something has been eating the leaves, look to see if there are caterpillars on the undersides of the leaves.  And, of course, harvest anything that is ready to be picked and enjoy the pleasure of watching your food grow!  

What's happening in the early August edible garden

Pic of edible garden early August

Saturday, August 9, 2025

August sees the full swing of the summer, warm season garden harvests.  Late sweet corn (plant corn in succession and different varieties to lengthen the harvest), summer squashes (like zucchini), peppers of all types (sweet to hot, hot), tomatoes, Mediterranean herbs, cucumbers, okra, apples, peaches, pears, grapes, beans, melons, figs, eggplant, honey, artichokes, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, onion, and fennel are all in season in the Midwest.  

If you are not growing these in your own garden, your local farmers market is a great place to pick up these seasonal veggies to either eat or preserve.  The best buy and taste on any fruit or vegetable is when it is in season.  You can get even better deals on any produce that has a few blemishes which have no effect on the flavor.  If you are going to can, freeze or dry them, just be sure to remove any blemishes first.  Preservation garden

I pick what to have in our garden based on the harvest per foot of garden space needed.  Our garden is incorporated into the flower garden mulch bed and in pots so we have to be choiceful on what to grow.  Grow what you love to eat, too.  It won't be a lot of fun to have a bumper crop of veggies you don't really like.  How to decide what to plant for small spaces?

In pots, we have great luck with Egyptian walking onions (which can be harvested year round), peppers, eggplant, greens, sweet bay, bush cucumber, pole beans and celery.

I do use vertical space for the green beans and cucumbers, growing pole types on trellises whether grown in the garden or in a pot.  You can also use trellises for squash or grow bush types that stay compact.

So, what is doing not so well in the garden this summer?  The record heat we are having is hard on many edibles.  Right now, the tomatoes are having a hard time developing fruits.  When temperatures stay above 80F, their flower pollen is sterile in most varieties.  I do have babies on my smaller fruits like Chocolate Pear and Ukrainian.  There are a couple small Italian Pear Paste tomato.  We had temperatures go down into the 80's last week so maybe we'll get some more fruits soon.

The last couple of years, I planted a second crop of tomatoes in mid June.  I did not do that this year because I have had way more tomatoes than I needed at the end of the season.  I think I will start just one slicer next year to be sure we have tomatoes for burgers and sandwiches.

Tomatoes 101, everything you need to know to grow ...

My yard long bean and winged bean vines have just taken off in the last couple of weeks.  I have started getting yard long bean pods forming and flowers on the winged bean vines.  Yard Long beans are much more productive than typical snap beans so I switched to them this year.  The Christmas Speckles lima bean vine is just sitting there.  Christmas Speckles and the Yard Long beans were planted in a new bed at the same time that I didn't have enough compost to add to the bed.  I'll do that this fall to get the bed in better shape for next year.  

Growing beans

The Trombetta squash I planted in that bed just started getting longer vine.  I had planted another one in an existing bed when the growth was stunted.  Both are now starting to grow longer.  I usually have zucchini in June so running late this year.  

Everything you need to know to grow squash

Newly sprouted zucchini, ready to be transplanted

Have many sweet and hot peppers and cucumbers and a few okra. Have had a few fruits from the eggplants and the plants are getting to a good size.  

My pepper plants look nice and green.  The Anaheims are producing peppers and continuing to flower.  My sweet peppers are flowering and have had fruits for the last month.  Peppers will produce all the way until there is a hard freeze.  It seems their best month is September.  They love warm days, cool nights and lower humidity.  I grow the sweet peppers to snack on and freeze for football salsa.  The Anaheims I am growing are to dry and make chili powder out of.  

Peppers are for every taste and garden

Peppers love September 

The flea beetles are having their usual summer feast with my eggplants.  They love to eat holes in the plant's leaves.  They don't eat the fruits, but with the damage to the leaves can reduce the plants ability to produce fruits.  We have purple and orange varieties this year.  Err on the side of picking early versus late.  Leaving the fruits on too long makes the skins taste on the bitter side.  You want to pick when the skin is glossy.

Eggplant-add this native from India to your garden

Beans on trellis in garden bed

The first round of lettuce, sweet mustard and spinach bolted long ago.  I left them to go to seed.  I have many volunteer sweet mustard and lettuce plants coming up.  Greens are heavy nitrogen users.  I make sure to fertilize them monthly.  I grow most of my greens in pots.  Pots need to be fertilized about twice as often as garden beds.  I always use natural organic fertilizers like Espoma or for an extra boost of nitrogen, blood meal or bat guana or liquid fish fertilizer.

Summer garden tips

A quick reminder, save the seeds from your best performers to plant next year!  You can replant seeds from any heirlooms or open pollinated plants.  What do the terms GMO, natural, heirloom, organic, hybrid really mean?  Not only does it save you money, but it also gives you the plants that do the best under your garden and zone conditions.  Only save seeds from your best fruits and only from disease free plants.  Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver