How to Save Tomato Seeds

How to Save Tomato Seeds with Ben, Jamie and Kathryn

Summer is the time to not just enjoy your fresh garden tomatoes, but to save seeds for next year! Learn how to get started with Ben, Jamie and Kathryn at PFP's seed saving garden. 

Supplies You'll Need:
- At least one ripe tomato
- Tall glass or plastic container, and rubber band and paper towel to cover
- Strainer
- Plate or tray to dry the seeds on
- Seed packet or other storage container and a marker to label your seeds

Steps: 
1. Pick a ripe tomato.
2. Scoop out seeds into a tall container with your hands or a utensil.
3. Add water, cover and let ferment for 3-5 days.
4. Decant off mold and floating pulp until you have just your clean seeds at the bottom on your jar or container.
5. Strain and rinse throughly.
6. Set out to dry until stiff, 1- 4 weeks. 
7. Store in a cool, dry, dark place in a seed packet or a sealed container with a desiccant such as silica gel. 

Don't forget to enjoy your delicious tomatoes once you've removed the seeds! Our fresh salsa or tomato sauce with zoodles are two great ways to use them - find the videos on our "In the Kitchen" page. Like and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos like this!!

Harvest Carrots from Your Container Garden with Kathryn

Today Kathryn shows us how to harvest the carrots she planted in her container garden at home.

In the previous video Kathryn planted carrots from seed in a 10 inch container at the end of April. Now that about 100 days have passed, we are going to dig them up and talk about replanting for the Fall! This container ended up yielding about 40 carrots, which weighed roughly 4 pounds.

Supplies:

    A container with carrots that are ready to harvest
    A watering can or hose to water and loosen the soil
    A hand trowel (optional) to help dig out the roots

Steps:

Determine if your carrots are ready to harvest by looking for the top of the root poking out the soil, and by using your seed packet as a guide. Different varieties, and growing conditions will affect the number of days you will need to wait to harvest.

Water the soil deeply with your watering can or hose.

Grab the top of the root of the carrot, which is sticking out the soil, and wiggle it loose from the soil. You can use a hand trowel to help dig them out if necessary.

Rinse your carrots off, and remove the greens before storing them in your fridge.

Use the greens like an herb for seasoning dishes or in pesto! Use the roots to snack on raw, in a dish like our Vietnamese Spring Rolls, or with other vegetables in a pickle recipe, soup, or salad. You can find more recipes on our YouTube channel!

If you live in the Poughkeepsie area, you can replant carrot seeds in mid to late August for a Fall harvest. You will want to harvest them again before the soil freezes completely, but they can survive a frost, and will get sweeter!

Watch the video to Learn to Grow Carrots in Containers on our YouTube.

Planting Baby Kale

PLANTING BABY KALE

Grow baby kale greens to use in a kale salad, veggie wrap, or our African style greens recipe!

Supplies

Kale seeds

Recycled microgreens tray or another small container

Potting soil

Watering bottle

Paper towel

Directions

1. Prepare your soil: You can reuse your microgreens tray by removing the roots, or start with fresh soil!

2. Spread your kale seeds on top of the soil. Use about 1 teaspoon of seeds.

3. Moisten gently with watering bottle (a bottle or lid with holes poked in it)

4. Cover with a damp paper towel.

5. Once your seeds start sprouting, remove the paper towel because they need light to grow!  

6. Put the tray in a well-lit area under a window or outdoors and water your kale sprouts every day

7. In about 4-6 weeks you will have baby kale for salad!  

8. Harvest your kale and save it in the fridge wrapped in a damp paper towel kept inside a food storage bag.

Harvest Microgreens

Harvest Microgreens
Learn how to harvest microgreens with Sonya Joy! Add flavor to your favorite recipes with microgreens!

Supplies

Tray of microgreens 
Pair of scissors
Bowl of clean water
Paper towel
Plastic bag

Directions

1. Find where the stem of the seedlings meet the top of the soil. Cut the greens at that spot with scissors. Place your harvested microgreens into a bowl of water.

2. Once you have cut the entire tray of microgreens, gently shake them in the water to remove any soil that might have come with them out of the tray.

3. Remove greens from the bowl by the handful, shaking again to remove excess water.

4. Wrap clean microgreens in a paper towel and store inside a plastic bag or food storage container. Microgreens will keep in a refrigerator this way for 1-2 weeks.

Learn about Growing Beans with Jamie

You’ll need:

• bean seeds

• a bowl of water soil (on the ground or in a plant pot)

• a trellis (if you are growing pole beans)
  

Instructions

1. Decide what type of beans you want to harvest from your garden (fresh beans or dry beans).

2. Decide whether you want to grow bush beans or pole beans. Pole beans need a trellis to climb.

3. Wait until after the last frost in spring.

4. Soak your bean seeds overnight.

5. Plant about an inch deep and 2-4 inches apart in a row.

6. Keep the soil evenly moist during germination.

7. If you are growing fresh beans, harvest when beans are 5-6 inches long, but before they develop lumps where the seeds are. Keep harvesting and the plants will keep producing.

8. If you are growing dry beans or if you want to save your bean seeds, leave the bean pods on the plants, let them keep growing and let the pods dry on the plant before harvesting. You will harvest fewer beans because harvesting them causes the plant to produce more bean pods.

5 Steps to Growing a Container Garden with Kathryn

Container gardening is perfect for growing all sorts of vegetables, herbs and flowers without taking up too much space or time!

Step 1: Pick a container: Choose a pot you like, or reuse or upcycle a take out container, bucket or storage container. Get creative, but make sure your container has holes for drainage.

Step 2: Find a sunny space for your container: You can put your plant on window sills, tables, porches, balconies, doorsteps, driveways--any small space where sunlight can reach will do! Most plants will need at least 6 hours of sunlight a day.

Step 3: Get your other supplies: Make sure you get a good quality potting soil Fertilizer - feed once every few weeks or once a month with liquid fertilizer such as fish emulsion, or mix a granular vegetable fertilizer into the soil before planting A trellis or stake may be necessary for large plants that need support

Step 4: Plant your plants! Pick what to grow: Direct sow seeds or buy seedlings to transplant. Microgreens, baby salad greens and herbs are options that can fit in your window and grow quickly. For outside containers: Tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, eggplant, strawberries, bush beans and more! All just need a 5 gallon pot to grow!

Step 5: Water your plants Watering once or twice a day will likely be necessary depending on the plant. Check the soil by sticking your finger one inch down to feel for moisture. Smaller pots dry out faster.

Lastly, harvest and enjoy your new home container garden!!

Growing Cilantro with Kathryn

Learn to harvest and care for a cilantro plant with Kathryn.

You need:

Your cilantro plant
Scissors
Water

1. Water your plant regularly and keep it in a sunny, but cool space.
2. Harvest the large, mature leaves gently using your hands or scissors.
3. Leave the smaller leaves, or new growth to grow more cilantro.
4. Taste your cilantro and add it to your favorite dishes, like Locro de Papa.
5. Store your bunch of cilantro in the fridge in a glass of water to make it last.
6. Replant when your plant bolts, or let it produce seeds to save or dry and use as coriander seasoning.
7. Post photos of you planting or harvesting your cilantro with #PokFoodPower and @Poughkeepsie Farm Project

Planting Microgreens

Poughkeepsie Food Power: Week One: Planting Microgreens

Learn to plant microgreens with Lala and Rio. Microgreens are very young vegetable plants that you can grow inside and harvest after just 7-10 days.

You need:
a shallow container
soil, compost, or dirt
seeds

1. Moisten the soil
2. Add the soil to the container
3. Sprinkle the seeds onto the soil
4. Make sure they are in one layer
5. Cover with a moist paper towel, lid, or plastic wrap until they sprout
6. Put the container by a sunny window
7. Keep soil moist, but not wet
8. Remove paper towel or other covering as soon as seeds sprout.
9. Watch your microgreens grow
10. Taste your microgreens and add them to your favorite dishes
11. Post photos of you planting or harvesting your microgreens with #PokFoodPower and @Poughkeepsie Farm Project

Primera Semana: Plantar Micro-verdes

Aprende a plantar microgreens con Lala y Rio. Las micro-verdes son plantas vegetales muy jóvenes que puede cultivar en el interior y cosechar después de solo 7-10 días.

Necesita:
un contenedor poco profundo
tierra para macetas, abono, o tierra de afuera
semillas

1. Humedecer el tierra.
2. Agregue la tierra al contenedor.
3. Espolvorea las semillas en la tierra.
4. Asegúrate de que estén en una capa.
5. Cubra con una toalla de papel húmeda, tapa o plástico hasta que broten.
6. Ponlo al frente de una ventana soleada.
7. Mantén la tierra húmeda, no mojada.
8. Quita la toalla de papel u otra cubierta tan pronto como broten las semillas.
9. Mira cómo crecen tus micro-verdes
10. Prueba tus micro-verdes y agrégalos a tus platos favoritos
11. Publique fotos de usted plantando o cosechando sus micro-verdes con #PokFoodPower y @Poughkeepsie Farm Project

Learn to grow carrots in containers with Kathryn

Here’s how to plant carrots from seed in a container!

They can be planted early when it’s still cold, and replanted until it gets really hot - over 80 degrees.  They don’t take a lot of space to grow, and you can eat the whole plant when it’s done, not just the root. The green leaves are good to flavor soups, or to make a pesto sauce or dip, like you would use parsley. You can grow a variety of different types of carrots, in many sizes and colors, but they all taste pretty similar. Choose the ones you think you’ll like!

Supplies:

• A container or pot that is at least 10 inches deep

• Potting soil, with some compost mixed in (if you have it)

• A watering can or a cup with holes punched in it and some water

• Carrot seeds 

Steps:

1. Fill your container up with the potting soil.

2. Next, water the soil with the watering can or cup with holes. Seeds need moist soil to germinate, or start growing.

3. Check your seed packet. It will say how deep to plant them and how far apart.  This is very important to know. Space them out a couple inches apart, like I am, or sprinkle them across the top of the soil and thin them out later if you prefer.

4. Carrot seeds are very small and don’t need to be buried. Press them in gently so the soil is touching them on all sides and if you want to cover them, sprinkle just a little soil on top - gently.

5. Place your container in a sunny spot.

6. Use a watering can to make sure the soil stays moist and they will start to sprout in 10 days or so. Keep them watered well for good growth.

7. Harvest when the root starts to peak out of the soil and is the size you want them to be. Your seed packet should give an estimated number of days until harvest.