More Info: 

**Please note Southern Seed School is TWO DAYS and we hope you will join us for both! **

Saturday April 27th from 9am-5pm AND at Grow Hub (2900 NE 8th Ave. Gainesville, Florida) 
Sunday April 28th from 9am-4pm at  at Grow Hub (2900 NE 8th Ave. Gainesville, Florida) 
**TBD field trip to UF**

Free and ample parking and accessibility!

Seed school is for everyone! Whether you are a gardener, farmer, permaculturalist, an existing or future seed librarian, have in interest in preserving regional biodiversity and heirlooms, are curious about vegetable breeding, varietal improvement, and learning about what our colleagues do at UF for our beloved Florida crops- then seed school is for you!

Although seeds are the most fundamental part of a local food system, we rarely ask ourselves and our food producers, “where did your seed come from?” We believe that local and resilient food communities need local seed.

In this 2-day course, which brings together a wide range of local experts from self-taught home seed stewards to university researchers, we will explore:

• the ways in which plants reproduce that help you understand how to best save high quality seeds
• hands-on techniques for when and how to harvest, thresh, winnow and store seeds
• the basics on how to breed your own vegetables, with an example from a home gardener who has developed his own tomato breeding program
• hands-on practice at making crosses between tomatoes
• how to conduct germination tests to test seeds for their vigor and viability before planting or storing
• how to best prime your seeds for optimal germination
• how to conduct and analyze a variety trial to learn which new crop varieties might be best for you
• how to grow native wildflowers from seed to seed
• how to propagate plants that don’t reproduce from seed
• a look at the University of Florida’s breeding program for major agronomic crops like blueberries, citrus, tomatoes and more