Update on Planted Reject Seeds

Back on 7/28/17 I wrote about sowing my reject bean seed into the garden. These were seeds that were not worth saving for some reason or other.....discolored, misshapened, small. I sowed three beds of these beans, and today I made my first pickings from two. 

I had sown some Royal Burgundy along the fence. Today I picked a bowlful. I'll get another picking in about five days. Not bad for not putting much effort out. 

I also planted some Red Swan, a pink romano bean. The germination had some skips in it, but the bed filled out nice enough. 

I didn't get as many beans as the Royal Burgundy, because the germination wasn't as good. 

The next picking should give me about twice as much. 

These beans were "free".....seed I didn't purchase and were heading into the trash (compost bin). So I got plenty of nice edible beans without shelling out the cash for seed. That sort of thing is right up my alley! 

With this experiment I just wanted to determine if it was worth the effort to use my seed rejects. I plan to sell the good quality seed and use to exceptional seed for propagation for the next generation of seed saving. Now I know that by sowing the rejects, I can still grow food for myself and food for selling/trading. Yes, another example of zero waste. But also an example of not having to spend money for seed for my own gardens. I keep in mind that for every pound of seed that I sow, it's a pound that I cannot use for sale.