Seed collecting is fun gardening with a purpose.  Once you know how to collect from your own garden, you will start finding opportunities to add new plants to the landscape by collecting seed everywhere you go.  There are no secrets to collecting seed successfully, and general knowledge of basic plant behavior will have you collecting your own in no time.  

Plants set seed in a lot of ways - some hide them in pods and some mature in the flower heads.  Others hide the seed in fruits or berries.  The key in successfully collecting seed is knowing when the seeds are ripe and ready to be removed from the parent plant.  If removed too soon, many seeds will not be viable, and the effort will have been useless.  

This section will explore the various ways to make seed collecting easier and ensure that the seeds will grow.  A basic seed planting primer will be included soon, and various techniques and tips will be detailed on collecting seed both in the wild and in the home garden.  For those of you who are ahead of me and have already been collecting seed, feel free to print out the seed packet template.  It doesn't display perfectly on screen, but I promise it prints out very nicely.  Cut just inside the outer lines, fold, and use glue to secure the side and bottom.  Seal the top with either glue or transparent tape.  Use different colored papers for different types of plants, if desired.  

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