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It’s always a bit sad to see our summer vegetable gardens peter out as the season comes to a close. Those once-verdant plants are now fading as the long, hot summer takes its toll.
Though harvests of fresh produce may be dwindling, gardens at this time of year can still provide us with something valuable: seeds.
Seed saving isn’t as common as it used to be, but it was a way of life for many of our ancestors who lived off the land and prized self-sufficiency. It was how they ensured they had seeds to plant — and food on the table — the following year.
In recent times, some folks have rekindled an interest in saving seeds. Not only does this practice allow you to make the most of your plantings and build a perpetual supply of seeds, but it also saves money, helps preserve genetic diversity and makes it easy to swap favorite and unique varieties with friends.
Kerry Heafner and Marcie Wilson, two LSU AgCenter horticulture agents, are on a mission to encourage people to join the seed-saving movement.
Through their North Louisiana Seed Preservation Program, Heafner and Wilson have tracked down seeds for a number of varieties that were once staples of Louisiana gardens but were eventually lost to time. Many were developed by LSU scientists in the early to mid-20th century.
The program’s collection now includes seeds of varieties that your grandparents might have grown — things like the Red-N-Sweet watermelon, Louisiana Green Velvet okra and a wide range of tomatoes, snap beans and field peas.
It’s largely because of home gardeners who dutifully stashed their seeds year after year that Heafner and Wilson have been able to rediscover these outstanding varieties and introduce them to others.
So, what kinds of seeds can be saved? And how do you do it? Here are some tips from Heafner and Wilson.
Seeds must be from heirloom, or open-pollinated, varieties that have been pollinated naturally by wind, insects or animals. Heirloom varieties are usually marked as such at the garden center and differ from modern hybrids, whose seeds typically either are sterile or won’t breed “true.”
You should only save seeds from plants grown in isolation from other varieties of the same species. For example, if you grew more than one type of okra this summer, those plants may have cross-pollinated, affecting the purity of the seeds’ genetics. The seeds may indeed sprout next year — but they may produce off-types with undesirable traits.
Recommended isolation distances vary by crop.
Finally, keep seeds from pest- and disease-free plants that were good performers in your garden.
Many seeds are quite simple to save. For beans, peas and okra, you can just leave pods on the plants, allow them to turn brown and fully dry, then pluck them.
Break or cut open the pods to access the seeds. Air dry the seeds for a day to ensure there is no moisture present before storing.
It takes a few extra steps to preserve the seeds of veggies like tomatoes and cucumbers that have a jelly-like substance called locular gel around their seeds. You’ll need to scoop out the seeds, place them in water and let them ferment for about three days. This process allows the seeds to detach from the pulp and the gel, which inhibits germination.
Fermentation can still be beneficial for watermelons and other kinds of produce that don’t have locular gel. It separates seeds from pulp while removing pathogens and boosting germination rates.
After fermentation, spread the seeds in a single layer on a nonstick surface like a waxy paper plate. Allow them to air dry completely, which may take several days. Be patient; don’t be tempted to dry seeds in an oven or dehydrator.
Package your dry seeds into something airtight such as envelopes, plastic bags and jars for storage. Tossing in silica gel packs, rice or powdered milk can help reduce moisture accumulation. Be sure to label the storage containers with the crop, variety and date.
Store seeds in a cool, dark, dry place. A box on a shelf works fine, and so does a refrigerator kept between 35 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
The freezer is great for long-term storage of heirloom seeds, keeping them viable for years.
For more information on how to save and store seeds, visit www.LSUAgCenter.com/SeedPreservationProgram or contact your local AgCenter agent.

A year ago Friday, residents of the Tri-City area saw the sun rise on flooded homes, power outages, downed trees and other damage caused by the area’s worst strike by a hurricane in more than 30 years.
And the area continues to cope with consequences bred by Hurricane Francine on Sept. 11, 2024.
Francine made landfall about 5 p.m. Sept. 11 near the St. Mary-Terrebonne line as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 mph. But it wasn’t the wind that created the greatest headaches.
The rainfall total remains a source of dispute. Officially, 8-10 inches of rain fell in this region. Anecdotal reports included estimates of 20 inches or more.
No matter what the figure, the water was enough to overwhelm the system of pump stations designed to move flood water from Morgan City outside the levee system.
An estimated 340 homes sustained flood damage, notably in the Marquis Manor neighborhood and near Lake Palourde. Across the state, the value of damage inflicted by Francine top $1 billion.
No injuries were reported here, and only four occurred across Louisiana.
Thousands lined up in cars for water, ice and other supplies at distribution sites in Morgan City and Franklin, staffed by National Guard troops. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration set up aid centers to help people apply for assistance.
The pump station failures have become one of the longest-lasting impacts of Francine.
Parish President Sam Jones made a connection with Gordon Dove, chairman of the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. The CPRA agreed to provide $12 million-$14 million for pump station upgrades, which continue now.
The St. Mary Levee District is coordinating the pump station improvements. So far, the biggest change has been installation of two gas-fired pumps at Pump Station No. 4, which services the Marquis Manor area. The district has awarded a contract for generator backup at Pump Station No. 9 near Lake Palourde.
Otherwise, there been many outward signs of the improvements.
“I think we’ll all feel better if we see some construction going on,” said Levee District Executive Director Tim Matte.
But “the experience we had with pump stations is they didn’t work the way we wanted them to,” Matte said. So it’s important for the job to be done well, he said.
Pump Station No. 4 will eventually have four pumps rather than two. Pumps and engines have been ordered, a process that may take a couple of months. The district will accept bids on installation work Tuesday.
The roof of that pump station must be removed to allow the installation of the pumps, Matte said.
For Pump Station No. 9, design work is underway. Plans are to add four pumps to the pumps already at the station.
More plans call for two pumps and two engines at Pump Station No. 8, which serves the Siracusa area.
The pump stations became a political issue after the storm. The problems with the stations were variously blamed on installation deficiencies at Pump Station No. 9 and a general lack of maintenance. In May, after voters approved renewal of a drainage property tax, the Parish Council removed the board of Consolidated Drainage District No. 2A.
The pump stations weren’t the only infrastructure targets affected by Francine.
After years of dredging the Port of Morgan City’s channel was at its authorized dimensions of 20 feet deep and 400 feet wide. But, even though Francine created only a small storm surge here, it wreaked havoc by stirring up sediment at the lower end of the channel.
“[Francine] just sat there like a washing machine,” said port Executive Director Raymond “Mac” Wade. “We went from 23 feet to 13 feet in six or eight hours.”
The Army Corps of Engineers stepped in to get the channel dredged to the authorized depth again.
“Thank God the Corps came to our rescue,” Wade said. “It took about 60 days.”

Carolyn Jones Leonard, 70, of Stephensville, passed away at home surrounded by family on September 7th, 2025, after a three-year battle with cancer. She was born on May 11, 1955, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to the late William and Mary Delle Jones.
Carolyn is survived by her loving husband of 52 years, Dexter Leonard, Jr., and their two daughters, Sara Haller and her husband Patrick, and April Leonard and her husband Chris Shirley. She cherished her role as Mimi to her grandchildren Kathryn Haller, Julia Haller, and Jack Shirley, who brought her endless joy.
Carolyn dedicated more than 30 years of her life to nursing, caring for others with compassion and empathy. She was an avid gardener and known for her green thumb, finding great joy and peace in nurturing plants and flowers. She was known for her wit, intelligence, and humor that brightened the lives of everyone who knew her.
A funeral service to honor Carolyn’s life will be held at Twin City Funeral Home, Saturday, September 13, 2025 from 1:30–3:30 p.m.
She will be remembered always for her brilliance, kindness, and laughter, and she leaves behind a legacy of love that will live on in her family and all who knew her.

Louisiana’s industrial giants, ports and local governments are facing an increasingly coordinated barrage of lawsuits from small but determined groups.
From St. James to Cameron Parish, environmental justice organizations have dragged parish commissions, global corporations and state agencies into court.
One group, The Descendants Project, a nonprofit based in St. John the Baptist Parish, has filed at least three lawsuits in recent years over a Formosa Plastics zoning dispute. One targeted the parish government itself, while the other targeted Formosa. A third lawsuit related to the same dispute was filed against the Port of South Louisiana.
The disputed zoning change, passed unanimously in 1990, reclassified land in Wallace from residential to heavy industrial. The Descendants Project says the move was tainted by corruption tied to then-Parish President Lester Millet and aimed at benefiting Formosa Plastics.
The land is home to the graves of former enslaved Blacks. Their names were Simon, Betsy, Rachel, Stanley and Harry.
In July, The Descendants Project and Inclusive Louisiana filed suit against Formosa, saying that Formosa is violating the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by owning and controlling the bodies. 
While such lawsuits are sometimes well intentioned, they are “at least in part by a desire simply to burden the defendant or the defendant’s industry in some way,” said Robert Stilson of the Capital Research Center. “This might be through causing delays or increased costs, scoring public relations points, or attempting to achieve through litigation what those activists have been unable to achieve through legislation”
The Descendants Project also sued the Port of South Louisiana, accusing its board of secretly predetermining a vote on Greenfield’s grain elevator deal through email – a violation, they allege, of the state’s open meetings law. 
Many of the lawsuits across the state include the same groups.
RISE St. James, Inclusive Louisiana, and the Mount Triumph Baptist Church, represented by the Tulane University Environmental Law Clinic, are pressing their case against St. James Parish and Koch. Koch and parish officials have asked the Louisiana Supreme Court to shut the case down and revive approvals for an expansion at Koch’s methanol plant.
The same three groups, also represented by the Tulane law clinic, have a separate lawsuit against the parish saying it “discriminates against them by directing hazardous industrial facility development towards majority-Black districts and Black churches, where their members and congregants live.”
And just last week, another front opened in Cameron Parish, as reported by The Advocate. The Louisiana Bucket Brigade, Sierra Club and Environmental Integrity Project filed suit against the state Department of Environmental Quality for granting Venture Global a permit to build its Calcasieu Pass 2 liquefied natural gas facility. 
“This company has been a bad neighbor and continually pollutes the air we breathe, while generating billions of dollars in profits,” resident and Sierra Club member John Allaire said in announcing the lawsuit.
The Sierra Club chapter of Louisiana, an environmental lobbying and legal group, has a long list of ongoing litigation against various big businesses. 
“It’s disappointing to see nationally-backed activists try to litigate their agenda instead of working with local communities to understand the positive impact U.S. LNG brings to Louisiana and the world,” Venture Global wrote The Center Square in a statement.  
The Bucket Brigade has also turned its firepower on New Orleans, suing the city and a development district in 2024 over a tax break deal for Shell Oil. identify and train local residents to speak before federal regulators, track accidents, and rally community resistance.
In its filings, the group says it is building an “early warning network” across parishes most targeted for industrial growth, particularly majority-Black communities in St. James and St. John.
“Lawsuits against our anchor industries send the opposite message and harm the very communities that rely on these job creators,” Will Green Will Green, LABI President & CEO, told The Center Square. “These cases don’t solve problems; they drive away jobs and investment while enriching lawyers.” 
Some of these nonprofits are being bankrolled by an out-of-state foundation with an ironic stake in Big Oil. The Elizabeth B. and Arthur E. Roswell Foundation Inc., which as of 2023 held more than 6,800 shares of BP stock, has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into Louisiana’s grassroots groups.
Tax records show the Roswell Foundation gave $33,000 to the Descendants Project, $76,000 to the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, and tens of thousands more to groups like Jubilee Justice in Alexandria, Rural Roots Louisiana, and Voice of the Experienced.
The foundation committed even larger future payments, including $90,000 to the Descendants Project, $120,000 to the Bucket Brigade, and $120,000 to Rural Roots Louisiana.
Cancer rates in Louisiana are among the highest in the nation and are often attributed to irresponsible business practices in the petrochemical industry, which has a massive presence in Louisiana.
These organizations were “founded by and serving the descendant community of enslaved people who forcibly worked and died on plantations in the parishes along the Mississippi River in Louisiana under the cruel and inhumane system of slavery in the U.S. South,” one lawsuit states. 
“Plaintiffs bring this action to protect, care for, and preserve the final resting places of the people who were enslaved and died on the Buena Vista Plantation in St. James Parish, Louisiana,” the suit continues.
“The right path forward is smart, responsible policy that allows our industries to grow while being good stewards of our environment—not costly lawsuits that weaken competitiveness and threaten Louisiana livelihoods,” Green continued.