Saving seeds, tilling and morning glories

I want to save seeds from my poppies and hollyhocks. How do I do that?

The most important thing is not to cut off the seedpods too soon. When seedpods turn from green to beige, the seeds in the pods will be ripe, but not before. The seeds must ripen on the plant. If cut off too soon, the seeds will never ripen.

Some plants drop their seeds near the plant, and hollyhocks are included in this category. The disc-shaped seedpods can be picked off the stem when they are beige colored. The pods will break apart into several large seeds, each forming part of the disc.

Poppies are one of the plants which fling their ripe seeds a distance away, to spread new plants over a wide area. To save seeds like poppies, cover the green seedpod with a paper bag, a piece of netting, or a chunk of old pantyhose. Do not use a plastic bag; without air circulation, the seeds will rot instead of ripening. Leave the cover in place until the seedpod is no longer green. Once it is ripe, all the seeds will drop into the bag and can be collected.

Both poppy and hollyhock seeds will survive winter outdoors, so they can be left to grow where they fall to the ground. To establish plants in new places, scatter the seed when it is ripe, knowing that it will stay dormant through winter and sprout next spring. Hollyhock seeds can be covered with a little dirt. Covering poppy seed, though, means certain death. Poppy seed must stay on the surface, exposed to light, in order to sprout.

The collected seeds also can spend the winter indoors in cool and dry conditions, and then be scattered outdoors in early April.

You have talked about not turning the soil in raised beds. What would be wrong with turning it or tilling it?

The obvious but less important reason is that tilling and spading are hard work. Gardening is supposed to be fun. Why work unnecessarily?

The more important reason is that soil left to its own devices is healthier than disturbed soil. For an example, look at the difference between an unplowed field and the disturbed soil along a road or a path, where the majority of plants are weeds.

If soil in a raised bed is not turned over, it builds a population of good organisms, from those of microscopic size to big bugs. In many ways these creatures contribute to healthy plants in the raised bed. Turning the soil over disturbs their lives and therefore disturbs the plants. Years ago I read a comparison between turning soil and hiring someone to do a spring cleaning of the house, then discovering that the cleaners had moved everything from the attic to the basement, and vice versa. The household members would survive, but their lives would be easier if everything were not turned upside down.

How can I get rid of wild morning glory? I tried digging it out last year, and that seemed to make even more plants. That is true; digging does create more wild morning glory plants.

This weed-also called bindweed for the way it twists around the stems of garden plants-has heart-shaped leaves and white or pale pink flowers that look like miniature morning glories. It also has the ability to start new plants from small pieces of root left in the soil. It is impossible to dig bindweed without breaking off root pieces, and it is impossible to dig out the whole root system. Bindweed roots can grow 20 feet deep and ten feet wide.

The easiest way to kill bindweed is to cut it at ground level, wherever and whenever you notice it. When the roots are separated from the leaf food factories, they starve to death. Starvation will not occur with one cutting; it may not happen in one gardening season if the infestation was big; but it will happen. Unfortunately, bindweed also is a champion seed maker. You may find seedlings for a few years after the original plants are dead and gone.

Hackett welcomes reader questions related to gardening, pest management, plants, soils and anything in between. Submit questions to mhackett@centric.net, call 406-961-4614 or mail questions to 1384 Meridian Road, Victor, MT 59875.