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Kitsilano Seed Savers Network

The online hub for plant lovers and seed savers. Specializing Medicinal plants, rare, exotic seeds

10/29/2026

After more than 40 years of growing and nurturing plants of all kinds and sizes, I have recently decided to "Torture them towards Beauty", or rather "Practice the ancient art of Bonsai".

I have reached that age as a gardener where apparently, "All Roads Lead to Bonsai".

Somewhere in my mini-bio on Kitsilano Seed Savers Network I wrote:
"THIS PAGE is based on 40+ years of Gardening, Permaculture, Biodynamic Farming, Syntropic Agriculture, Food Forestry, Aquaponics, Hydroponics, Plant Cultivation, and Seed-Saving"

Now I guess I should update it to include: "Bonsai Practice" 😄

In the photos below I share some ideas, techniques and terminology native to the world of Bonsai. I cover my harvesting, and germination method for Maple Tree seeds, and a tentative first Bonsai attempt.

➡️ Have you gone BONSAI yet? Let me know how it is going in the comments below.

✅ Follow KSSN for more Rare Plant, Seed, and Permaculture News (and humour)

10/25/2026

A "Three Sisters Garden" is a way to grow a nutritionally complete meal the way nature intended by taking advantage of a mutually beneficial polyculture.
It’s a classic component in permaculture homesteads and a fun and easy to grow project.
NOTE: You can see my 3 Sisters Garden in the comments below

10/25/2026

✅ PRO-TIPS: Kitsilano Seed Savers Network's Autumn Seed-Saving Series. ( #6 of 6)
Covering Seed Harvesting, Selection, Viability, Storage, Labelling & Packaging.

Saving and properly storing seeds to maintain their viability is an important skill to have these days. It is something that I have done - almost like a ritual practice for decades. In the photos below, I will guide you through some of the best ways to select seeds, label and store them.

I started this page (KSSN) on Earth Day, 2020 - upon returning to Canada after living abroad for 20 years teaching and practicing Permaculture, Sustainable Building and other "off-grid" skills. Below is my first post from 2020 - a thumbnail "bio" and Mission Statement of sorts:

THIS PAGE is based on 40+ years of Gardening, Permaculture, Biodynamic Farming, Syntropic Agriculture, Food Forestry, Aquaponics, Hydroponics, Plant Cultivation, and Seed-Saving.
It is full of Seed/Plant and Fruit/Vegetable growing knowledge and some Humour. Enjoy. 💚

"The act of gardening - and specifically "seed-saving" - can be seen as a practical and crucial political act, whether you live in Vancouver, or anywhere around the world". - Philip Oulton

I have been a Seed Saver in Montreal, Brisbane, North Carolina, Tel Aviv, Sydney, and Byron Bay, Australia and am now still a seed-saver here in Vancouver.

➡️ SHARE THIS LINK with other Greenies and Gardeners

✅ Follow KSSN for Rare Plant, Seed, and Permaculture News (and humour)

10/25/2026

✅ PRO-TIPS: Kitsilano Seed Savers Network's Autumn Seed-Saving Series. ( #5 of 6)
How to Collect, Save and Store seeds from the Bean Family (Fabacae)

HISTORY OF "THE SCARLET RUNNER BEAN" (Phaseolis coccineaus)

These beans originated in the mountains of Central America. It was most likely cultivated in the highlands of Mexico and Guatemala around 2000 BC. Most varieties have red flowers and multi-coloured seeds (though some have white flowers and white seeds) and are often grown as ornamental plants due to their abundant and beautiful flowers.

IS IT AN ANNUAL or PERENNIAL?
That actually depends on where you live... "It differs from the common bean (Phaseolis.vulgaris) in several respects: the cotyledons stay in the ground during germination, and the plant is a perennial vine with tuberous roots". - Wikipedia (see pic #8)
However, it is usually grown as an annual in colder climates such as here on the West Coast.

IN THE PHOTOS BELOW, I take you through the steps of WHEN to harvest, HOW to collect, how to SAVE the seeds for the coming years, and also HOW TO PACKAGE for trade or sale.

ALSO: You can read my article from last year on harvesting, selecting and saving one of my favourite beans - The Orca Bean here: https://tinyurl.com/OrcaBean

➡️ The MOST IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW:
Choose only the best seeds, from the best fruit, from the best plants when you save seeds!

On SEED-SAVING, Food Sovereignty, Community Resilience and Growing Healthy Food:
Maintaining Food Sovereignty, having the knowledge of what you actually are eating, and being a member of a community of gardeners around the world who know that Gardening - and in particular "seed-saving" can be a very POWERFUL social and political activity - and a very empowering one at that! It's akin to giving "the bird" to Industrial Ag companies and their pernicious spreading of hybrid, infertile, or GMO-based seed stock. Plus, they are buying up all the local and independent seed companies - just to put them out of business, and supply only their limited seeds to growers via their growing monopoly! (ie: Evil)

THE REAL REWARD: Growing your own gives you the ability to only eat the freshest, healthiest, organic, nutritionally-dense food as the process is entirely in your hands - if you decide to garden and grow your own fruit and vegetables (or at least a good percentage of your fruit and veggies)
✅ Follow KSSN for more interesting Rare Plant and Permaculture News (and humour)

10/21/2026

Find Your People at a Garden Near You, or online at Kitsilano Seed Savers Network 💚

10/21/2026

✅ PRO-TIPS: Kitsilano Seed Savers Network's Autumn Seed-Saving Series. ( #4 of 6)
How to Collect, Save and Store seeds from the "Cucurbit" family (gourds) 🥒🍉 🍑

The Cucurbitaceae, also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in around 95 genera of which the most commonly grown are: Cucumbers, Squash, Pumpkin, Zucchini, Melons, and Gourds.

Your great-grandparents, current homesteaders, "permaculuralists", serious gardeners, seed-savers, survivalists and "Off-Gridders" understand the importance and value of saving their best seeds for future planting.

RULE OF THUMB: Between 20 and 30% of cucurbit seeds will be viable seeds for saving.
(See photo #10 for the actual breakdown of saved versus rejected seeds)

ONLY SAVE
▪️Seeds from "open-pollinated" varieties. - No hybrids or f1 labelled plants.
▪️The Healthiest and "best looking" mature fruit from Disease-Free plants.

FERMENTATION in water kills viruses and helps to separate the good seeds from the pulp and the bad seeds. The good seeds will sink to the bottom while the bad seeds and pulp float to the surface. Simply pour off the pulp, water, mold, and bad seeds carefully after three days have passed. The gel surrounding cucumber and tomato seeds is called "locular gel" by botanists. This gelatinous sac contains germination inhibitors, which prevent the seeds from sprouting before the fruit has fully ripened. It dissolves during fermentation process.

WHY SAVE SEEDS?
Around the world large corporations are buying smaller local seed growers and streamlining (at best) their inventory to a few select varieties of seed . At worst, these Big-Ag Monsters are genetically modifying the seeds they intend to sell, rendering them "proprietary", and sterile. Saving your own seeds may also soon become illegal, the way "rain-water harvesting" has in many places already. Not only are the healthiest seeds from your property likely to lead to more healthy subsequent offspring, they "evolve" over the generations to become "site specific" and increasingly suited to your local environment.

So: "Save your SEEDS, and one day they may Save you!"

✅ Follow KSSN for Rare Plant and Permaculture News (and humour)

10/20/2026

🛡 EXPERIMENTAL / RESEARCH BOTANY: Project 8 - "Growing Kiwi from Store-Bought Fruit"

The History of the Kiwifruit: (Actinidia deliciosa)
Native to the temperate Yangtze Valley in central and eastern China, the fruit was historically valued for food and medicine, with documentation dating back to the Song and Tang dynasties, where it was called míhóutáo (Monkey Peach).

However, in 1905 Mary Isabel Fraser, a New Zealand school principal, brought seeds back from China to Wanganui, New Zealand. The seeds were planted in 1906, first fruited in 1910, and commercialized by nurseryman Hayward Wright in the 1920s, leading to the famous Hayward cultivar. (Shown in photo 1)

Initially called "Chinese Gooseberries" due to their fuzzy skin and tangy flavoUr, the fruit gained popularity among Allied servicemen stationed in New Zealand during World War II... but the name was politically inappropriate, some people decided.

In 1959, New Zealand exporters "re-branded" the fruit as "Kiwifruit" to avoid Cold War-era tariffs and political complications with the word "Chinese", naming it after New Zealand’s iconic flightless bird, the Kiwi. - Wkipedia

Unless you lived in New Zealand or Australia prior to the 1980's, you would have never even seen a Kiwifruit. They only expanded to the global market in the mid-80s. I remember the first time I saw one for sale in Montreal, in 84/85. By 1990 they were everywhere. They even have their own emoji now: 🥝

GROWING KIWIFRUIT FROM STORE-BOUGHT FRUIT:
The steps I took for growing Kiwi from seed are described in sequence in photos below:

➡️ Previous and Upcoming EXPERIMENTAL / RESEARCH BOTANY posts:

Project 1: Growing Dates: https://tinyurl.com/yc3hhsww
Project 2: Growing Pineapple: https://tinyurl.com/5zvavhm5
Project 3: Growing Pomegranate Trees: https://tinyurl.com/58hyw5wn
Project 4: Growing Pistachio Trees from seed: https://tinyurl.com/3kfe82w5
Project 5: Growing Murcott Mandarin Trees: https://tinyurl.com/ym9uat88
Project 5b: Potting on Murcotts at 4 months: https://tinyurl.com/2eebc6dd
Project 6: Growing Kumquats From Seed: https://tinyurl.com/4a5e2vyd
Project 7: Growing Lychee from Seed: https://tinyurl.com/3u5xawbj
Project 8: Growing Kiwi Vine from Seed (CURRENT)
Project 9: Growing Coffee Plant from Bean (upcoming)
Project 10: Community Suggestion enter in comments

✅ Follow KSSN for Rare Seed, Plant or Permaculture News (and humour)

10/15/2026

I started gardening at his age, and it has been one of the greatest sources of joy (and food) in my life. It's never too early - or too late to "dig in"! So, Why Not Start a Garden this Spring? 💚

10/15/2026

✅ PRO-TIPS: Kitsilano Seed Savers Network's Autumn Seed-Saving Series. ( #3 of 6 in a series)

SPOTLIGHT ON: 🔎 The "Everona Tomatillo" (One of my favourite super-performers 💥)

LEARN HOW TO:
A) Collect, Save, and Store Tomatillo Seeds
B) Germinate and Grow these Beauties.

REQUIREMENTS:
Full/Med Sun, Well Draining soil, Supports
Tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica), literally means "little tomato" in Spanish. However, they are husk tomatoes, meaning that the fruit is contained within a papery outer-skin, which is an excellent gift wrapping for the tomatillo inside. But what do you do with theses little individually wrapped presents from Pachamama?

➡️ Simple! You make Salsa Verde. (See Recipe in last photo)

In the photos below and their descriptions, I explain how you de-seed, germinate and grow the teeny-weeny seeds.

Please leave any questions/comments you have in the comment section below. Thanks 🎯

✅ Follow KSSN for more Rare Plant, Seed, and Permaculture News (and humour)

10/14/2026

✅ PRO-TIPS: Kitsilano Seed Savers Network's Autumn Seed-Saving Series. ( #2 of 6 in a series)

A "How-To" Guide: Harvesting, Cleaning, Sorting, and Saving Tomato Seeds in 10 STEPS.
In the photos below, I demonstrate the process with one of my favourite tomato varieties - which I nic-named "Gokboru - after the heroic lead character from the Turkish TV series "Osman". Producing an exceptionally large fruit, with a high-shouldered shape, and a meaty beefsteak-style interior with very few seeds. The Giant Turk seen in the photos weighed in at 878 grams, which is almost 2 pounds! Choosing seeds from the best exemplars is a good idea in order to preserve optimal plant genetics for your garden in the troubled years to come. 🎯

FERMENTATION:
Why Do You Need to Ferment Certain Seeds - like Tomato?
Fermentation breaks down the placental tissue and protective gel, allowing them to be easily rinsed off the seeds through decanting. Fermentation also has the power to reduce and potentially destroy some destructive diseases.

➡️ The Most Important Thing to Know:
Choose only the best seeds, from the best fruit, from the best plants when you save seeds!

On Seed-Saving, Food Sovereignty, Community Resilience and Growing Healthy Food:

Maintaining Food Sovereignty, having the knowledge of what you actually are eating, and being a member of a community of gardeners around the world who know that Gardening - and in particular "seed-saving" can be a very POWERFUL social and political activity - and a very empowering one at that! It's akin to giving "the bird" to Industrial Ag companies and their pernicious spreading of hybrid, infertile, or GMO-based seed stock. Plus, they are buying up all the local and independent seed companies - just to put them out of business, and supply only their limited seeds to growers via their growing monopoly! (ie: Evil)

Growing your own gives you the ability to only eat the healthiest organic, nutritonally dense food is entirely in your hands if you decide to garden and grow your own fruit and vegetables (or at least a good percentage of your fruit and veggies)
✅ Follow KSSN for more interesting Rare Plant and Permaculture News (and humour)

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