Filled with advice for the home gardener and the more seasoned horticulturist alike, The Seed Garden: The Art and Practice of Seed Saving provides straightforward instruction on collecting seed that is true-to-type and ready for sowing in next year's garden. In this comprehensive book, Seed Savers Exchange, one of the foremost American authorities on the subject, and the Organic Seed Alliance bring together decades of knowledge to demystify the time-honored tradition of saving the seed of more than seventy-five coveted vegetable and herb crops--from heirloom tomatoes and long-favored varieties of beans, lettuces, and cabbages to centuries-old varieties of peppers and grains. -- Barnesandnoble.com.

Includes index.

Why save seeds? --Section I. The art and practice of seed saving. The botany of seed saving -- Setting seed: mating systems and pollination methods -- Staying true: seed saving and variety maintenance -- Cultivating for seed -- Harvesting and cleaning seeds -- Seed quality and storage -- Planning the seed garden -- Section II. The seed garden: crop profiles. Determining population size and isolation distance -- Common name directory -- Crop profiles (alphabetical by scientific name) -- Appendix: Seed-saving recommendations -- Appendix: Seed-screen sizes -- Appendix: Germination test parameters -- Appendix: Common seedborne diseases -- Appendix: Regional considerations -- Appendix: Legalities -- Glossary -- Index -- Acknowledgements.