14 July, 2019

A Short Seed Saving Bibliography

A Seed Saving Guide for Gardeners and Farmers, Organic Seed Alliance © 2010 OSA This publication is a free download from organicseedalliance.org. It is a succinct guide with few frills but a great deal of good data. A free publication that is worth paying for! Organic Seed Alliance is a non-profit relying on contributions to fight the invasion of hybrids and GMO seeds in our lives. I suggest throwing a donation their way as they deserve it.

Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties: The Gardener's & Farmer's Guide to Plant Breeding & Seed Saving , Deppe, Carol © 2000 Chelsea Green This is the most exhaustive and thorough book on the process of seed saving. Written with loving appreciation of seeds like no other book I've ever read, Carol Deppe is at once an authority on seeds and plant breeding and a knowledgeable gardener whose books I snatch up and devour as fast as possible. If you have interest in this field, buy this book now.

Enduring Seeds: Native American Agriculture and Wild Plant Conservation, Nabham, Gary Paul, © 2002 North Point Press, Though not strictly about saving seeds, this book, along with almost all of Nabham's books give one the reasons to save seeds. I respect and admire Nabham's work – he writes brilliantly and tells stories we need.


Heirloom Vegetable Gardening: A Master's Guide to Planting, Seed Saving, and Cultural History,Weaver, William Woys © 2003, Owl Publishing Company, (My copy says 'Henry Holt.') Originally published in 1997, it is now out of print and getting a copy can be hellish. It is a wonderful book that needs to be put back in print because the research he put into the book makes this to be the most informative books on heirloom vegetables that has ever been published. Mother Earth News has the entire book on a CD – you can find it on their website – of course that doesn't duplicate having one's hands on the book, but you will have all the data.


The Organic Seed Grower: A Farmer's Guide to Vegetable Seed Production, Navazio, John ©2012, Chelsea Green Publishing This new book was written to fill the void in the marketplace that had no definitive text for professional growers growing seeds organically for the organic seed trade. This is an up and coming market as the world turns more and more to organic produce and growers have begun to realize that seed produced by growers using non-organic methods performs best under non-organic regimens. Suddenly, there is a market for organic seeds and varieties developed to grow in organic gardens. This book is rigorous and is not light reading. Be prepared. But is also chock full of data you will want to know sooner or later.

Where Our Food Comes From: Retracing Nikolay Vavilov's Quest to End Famine, Nabhan, Gary Paul © 2008 Shearwater Not a seed saving book, but Nikolay Vavilov's research into the seeds of our foods is fascinating reading and helps ground a reader in the history of seed collecting and the reasons why we want to save seeds from the wilds.

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