For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."
one little thing you should do when saving tomato seeds
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Have you been saving tomato seeds wrong this whole time? Granted, there's no "wrong" way as long as you keep them cool and dry, but there is a better way that improves the germination rate of your tomato seeds next season: fermenting them. Yep, the same type of fermenting that you'd do for sauerkraut or kimchi. Who knew? For most people, saving tomato seeds is as simple as waiting for a ripe tomato and then scraping the seeds out of it. But by adding the simple extra step of fermenting your seeds before you store them, you can remove the germination-inhibiting substance on the seed coats (they all have it) and help those seeds germinate faster and more vigorously in the spring. ​Here's what you should know about fermenting tomato seeds and exactly how to do it.​ (Tip: Make sure you're only saving mature seeds from fully ripe tomatoes—green or half-ripe won't cut it.) This last recipe I linked above for curried zucchini soup has been a longtime favorite ever since I started growing zucchini and realizing it's really hard to use up all that monster zucchini by the end of summer! It's one of my first blog posts ever (from 2011!), thus the small and grainy phone photos with bad filters. 😆 One day I'll update this post with better images, but the recipe is still legit and I was reminded of it this week when I made the soup again for dinner. Ohmygosh, it's DELICIOUS. 😋 P.S. Improve the germination rates of your tomato seeds by fermenting them first. Here's how to do it! P.P.S. My new book, The Route 66 Cookbook, is almost here!! If you were thinking of buying a copy for yourself or gifting it to a friend, I hope you'll consider preordering it now to help launch this book into the world. You can preorder The Route 66 Cookbook online from your local independent bookstore here. (Or do it the old-fashioned way and preorder by phone or in person.) Here's a new review that just came in this week from the industry trade pub Library Journal: |
Garden Betty
For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."