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Happy Fall, gardeners! This month we are chatting all about seed saving — a fantastic gardening task for this time of year. Dave has years of experience saving seeds professionally with Sage Garden Greenhouses and share his practical yet professional tips with us, including:

What tools to use
Saving open pollinated vs. hybrid seeds
Understanding cross pollination vs. genetic diversity
Cleaning seeds to ensure viability
Storing seeds in a stable environment

Here’s some of Dave’s fantastic seed saving photos from behind-the-scenes at the Sage Garden private gardens.

Listener questions we answer this week in the minisode:

“How do I prevent slugs and thrips? They are nasty this year!” - Nury Mora

“Should you cut the leaves off white powdery mildew squash?” - Well In the Wild

“After 4 years of trying I’ve finally successfully grown loufa gourd. Any tips on when to harvest? They are going to be monsters.” - Maggie

*Note: We reference the Shifting Roots blog post covering growing luffa sponges at home in cold climates when answering this question, linked here!

“I have been an avid gardener for 15 years but have encountered this one question…I have a two year old large raised bed that i use to plant veggies in. This year is had been full of two different kinds of spontaneously occurring mushrooms throughout. I can only think it must be from the compost I used (Sea Soil) to amend the bed at the beginning of the season. I know some fungus is good for the soil but I’m wondering if this indicates a microbial imbalance? Even if not, I would still prefer to not have this happen because I have little kids and am worried one might try to eat them. Any tips on what I should do?” - Christel Kjenne