Perhaps, no one who is interested in gardening and vegetable gardening needs to be explained how important quality seeds are for getting a good harvest.
At the same time, buying seeds is a rather expensive and even unpredictable undertaking, since no manufacturer can 100% guarantee the germination of the seed material and its compliance with the declared characteristics.
This is why many gardeners prefer to collect seeds themselves in order to control the process and be confident in the quality of the planting material.
And if everything is more or less clear with cucumbers and tomatoes, then in the case of root crops, unexpected difficulties may arise. What to do in this case, said the expert of the online publication "BelNovosti", scientist-agronomist, landscape designer Anastasia Kovrizhnykh.
If your root crops produce flower stalks in the summer, you can collect seeds from them in one season.
With the arrival of September, it is necessary to cut the flower stalks and send them to a dry room with good ventilation so that they dry out there. At the end, you will have to thresh them.
There is another way: during the harvest of carrots, beets, radishes and other root vegetables, select the ones you like, then put them into storage, putting them in a box or crate and covering them with sand.
Vegetables should lie in the cellar during the winter, and plant them in the spring. Closer to autumn, when the plants bloom, collect the seeds - such seed material will be of higher quality.
Expert: Anastasia Kovrizhnykh
