There are about 50 seed pods on the plant and each pod holds about a dozen seeds. I should harvest over 500 seeds from this one plant. Stored in a cool, airtight, and dry container, kale seeds retain a good germination rate for about 2 to 5 years, with germination dropping off after the 2nd year. Even so, I can usually count of a 30-50% germination rate with the older seeds. So, planting 3 seeds per cell will usually result in at least 1 plant per cell.
As I only need about 12 plants of this type of kale per year, and the seeds will remain viable for a max of 5 years, the greatest amount of seeds that I expect I should need of the Tuscan kale is about 150. That leaves 350 remaining seeds that I won't need for my garden from this one plant.
What's my plan for the remaining seeds? I plan on using the rest of the seeds in a couple of batches of kale micro-greens this winter, grown indoors under a light. Here's an interesting thing about seeds saved from your garden. You can use these saved seeds for growing micro-greens indoors in winter. I also plan on saving chive and green onion seeds for micro-greens. These micro-greens, along with sprouted lentils, will add freshness and texture to some of our winter meals, with very little expense.
How do I store these garden seeds? I use envelopes that come in junk mail and bills for seeds storage, then place them in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. I store these with the rest of my seeds in the refrigerator, and they seem to perform okay for me.
The seed pods don't ripen all at once but over the course of a week or two. However, it's important to get the pods off of the plants before the pods naturally explode open, scattering the seeds. So, I pick them as I see them at the ripe-enough stage (tan-colored on the outside). Even if I can't take the time to shell the pods right away, having them in an envelope indoors contains the seeds for my use later. Occasionally, as I am shelling the seeds, I will come across one or two seeds that have already begun to sprout. I carefully transplant these out to my garden and hope for a new plant this season.
There's always the risk that these were hybrid seeds and they won't grow true to the plant which they were harvested. However, I feel that with plants like kale or other leafy greens, that any version of this type of plant will work for my needs in the garden, and for growing micro-greens, the variety won't matter at all.
Do you save seeds from your garden? What's your experience been? Have you used them for more garden plants, sprouts, or micro-greens?
