How to collect and save Chive seeds

Saving seeds can be a great way to save a lot of money on growing new plants and make gardening even more fulfilling as you take a more complete part in the plant life-cycle.

Chives are a good beginning plant to start with.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Chives that are flowering or recently have flowered.
• Small bag
• Cool location to store seeds

1. Allow your existing chive plants to blossom and watch for when they start to dry out and lose their color

2. If the chive plants are in a windy location or in a place they can be bumped, put a bag over the the flower heads and tighten the opening with a string or rubber band. This will catch the seeds so don't fall away.

3. Allow flower heads to completely dry out

4. Cut the flower heads off of the plants and put them in a bag that has extra room in it for the flowers to bounce around in it.

5. Shake the bag, dislocating all the tiny black seeds out of the flower heads. The seeds will be about the size of a flea, so look for them carefully.

6. Store the seeds in a cool and dry location, such as a refrigerator drawer.

Tips & Warnings

• Chive seeds have a short shelf life, so be sure to use them before a year is up.

[Starze]

on 3/7/2008 Awesome gardening tip.