The Seed Garden: Planning for Seed Saving and Lots of Vegetables

Excerpt from the handout:

Never save seed from just one plant (unless it’s the second to last on the planet). Grow a big enough population of plants to keep enough genetic diversity for future adaptability and to prevent a genetic “bottleneck.” With self-pollinators (inbreeders) such as beans, 20 plants may be enough - self-pollinated varieties are already genetically quite homogenous, and there is little gain from a bigger population. For out-breeders (cross-pollinators) grow at least 100 to avoid inbreeding depression, which leads, over time, to lower quality, less vigorous plants.