SEASON OF SEED SAVING THIRD WEEK IN APRIL

This week we have continued with our seed saving, this time with brinjal, (also called egg plant or aubergine) tomatoes and papaya all of which are saved in much the same way.

It is important that the brinjal used for seed saving are ripe, as like the beans we looked at last week, brinjal is eaten as a vegetable before the seeds are properly formed. With our round brinjal we can see whether they are ripe because they turn a bright yellow.

There are two ways of processing brinjal seed. One way is to put them out in the sun until they gradually turn dry and black. Then it is possible to get the seeds out just by gently scraping them off the dry brinjal flesh.

The drying process does, however, take quite a long time as the brinjal that are now ready in Buddha Garden have been out in the hot sun for several weeks. Some of them turn have gone rotten and never properly dried out. But the chickens didn't seem to mind.

Another way is to leave the ripe vegetables in the sun just until they are soft which can take from a few days to a week. Then they can be cut open and all the seeds taken out of the middle of them.

The seeds can then be put in water and allowed it to soak overnight. Next morning the seeds are cleaned under running water and then left out in the sun to dry. The seeds tend to dry in a large clump so need to be separated before being put in labelled bags.

A similar method can be used to save the seeds of tomatoes or papayas. Unlike brinjal the seeds of this vegetable and fruit can be collected when the fruit/vegetable is ripe and ready to eat. Although I prefer tomatoes to be a bit on the squishy side. For tomatoes use a knife to remove the flesh containing the seeds and eat the rest of it. For papaya save the seeds that you have taken out before eating it.

In both cases leave them for at least 24 hours soaking in water after which wash any remaining flesh away and dry the seeds completely before putting in bags, labelling and putting in the fridge.

If you do not have a fridge mix some ash in with the seeds to deter bugs and then keep them in an air tight container. We found we could keep most seeds like this for over a year. Except for snake gourd seeds which, whatever we did, always seemed to get pests. Even keeping them in the fridge they seem to lose their potency and have a low germination rate. The first snake gourd seeds we plant for the hot season are to grow enough seed for the rest of the season.