Its been such a mild January so far, and dry. Makes me feel that spring is near. While inspecting the greenhouse this morning I discovered that the fuchsias overwintering there are starting to sprout new growth tips. How exciting is that. The majority of potted herbs are still alive though they don’t look so great, except for the Italian parsley. They look good. The plants are from last year’s sowing and I have had leaves to use all winter up to now. I do notice however that they are getting some pretty strong, upright shoots in the center. They will probably go to seed soon and that will be that for the parsley.
The grass is trying to take the garden back. I hope I can get out there soon to dig it out before it overtakes everything. The leeks from last spring are good size and still alive. Not sure if they are usable. They’ve been a bit limp since the big freeze. I’ll try to pull some today and see how they are.

• To save tomato seeds, crush tomatoes and let them ferment in a bucket three days. The seeds will sink to the bottom. Pour everything else off, rinse seeds and dry them.
• To harvest squash seeds, harvest squash when it is ripe and hard. Wait one month and then cut it open and scrape out the seeds. Rinse pulp away and dry seeds well.  
• To save lettuce seeds, wait until lettuces go to seed, put a pillowcase over seed head and shake off seeds.
• To save bean seeds, harvest bean pods, dry them and pull seeds out.
• Store all very dry seeds in cool or cold, dry conditions. Freeze or refrigerate seeds with packets of silica gel or powdered milk to keep them dry. The cooler you keep seeds, the longer they will last—4 to 8 years. Heat destroys them.