by Dale Odorizzi, Lanark County Master Gardeners

Did you grow a tomato you loved this summer? Try saving its seeds so you can enjoy the same great taste next year.

Select a tomato you loved. There is no point saving seeds from an inferior plant. It will result in inferior tomatoes next year. Save seeds from tomatoes that are:

open-pollinated or heritage plants. Seeds saved from hybrid tomatoes won't come true.

fully ripe, but not over-ripe.

the best-looking, best-tasting fruits on the plant.

Slice the tomato across the tomato, not from stem end to blossom end. Squeeze the seeds and surrounding gel into a plastic or glass container. Pour 2-3 inches of water over the seeds in your container. Cover the container with plastic wrap and poke a hole in the centre. Label your container and set it in a spot where it won’t be in the way or disturbed too much. Let it sit for 2-3 days until you see white mold growing on top of the water. This is a sign that the gel coating surrounding the seeds has broken down. This process will smell bad.

Pour off the mold and as much water as possible and any seeds that are floating as they will not germinate. Rinse a few times, pouring off the rinse water. Dump seeds into a fine mesh strainer and rinse well, using your fingers to dislodge gel that sticks to the seeds.

Write the name of your tomato variety on a paper plate or coffee filter and dump your seeds onto it. Make sure that the seeds are in a single layer so they dry well and don’t get moldy. Set labeled seeds aside for a few days to dry completely.

Once your seeds are completely dry, put them in an envelope, small baggie or other container to store. Label them properly and store in a cool, dry place. When stored properly, tomato seeds will germinate reliably for up to 10 years or even more.

While most tomato seed savers use this fermentation approach, you can also try the “non-fermentation” method. Slice the tomato in half horizontally. Scoop out the seeds and place them on the paper towel. Note that each seed is enclosed in a gel-like sac. As you spread the seeds on the paper towel, space them so that they're one-half to one inch apart from each other. When placing each seed, gently press the gel into the paper to disburse it a bit.

After arranging your seeds on the paper towel, set your paper towel on wax paper or plastic wrap, and move to a warm, dry environment. The towel will wick moisture away from the seeds quite quickly. Allow several days drying time.

Once the towel and seeds are completely dry, separate the towel from the wax paper and fold the towel so that the seeds are on the inside. Use the top outside of the folded towel to label your seeds. Store the seeded towel in a relatively airtight container at room temperature.

When it is time to plant the seeds, you can plant the paper towel and all in your pot. Next August, you will be enjoying this same great taste.

Ralph Seamons, of Tanglewood Marina on the north shore of Weslemkoon Lake, appeared before Council

He brought Jim Reynolds along with him. Reynolds is a seasonal resident on Weslemkoon, and a client of Ralph Seamons' garbage delivery business. Seamons has been having difficulty complying with some new dumping provisions that Addington Highlands brought in last year, in particular the requirement that all recyclable items be placed in a blue box and handed to the dump attendant, who then inspects the items and carries the box up a ramp to dump the items in township bins.

Seamons, who has been running his business since 2001, has developed his own system. He transports the recyclable materials to the waste disposal site on Hartsmere Road in “totes” that are the size of 8 or 9 blue bins. Until the new rules took effect, he would dump the contents of the totes in the township bin, but now he must use the totes to fill one blue box at a time, and wait while the attendant checks the contents of the blue box, carries it up a ramp and dumps it into the township bin.

“I take 16 totes full of recyclables once a week during the summer. Now instead of simply dumping the contents once, I have to fill the blue box 125 times, and wait for the attendant to dump the blue box. It costs me a lot of time and the attendant as well,” said Seamons.

He said it now takes 6 hours to do his recycling run when it used to take 2, and asked that he be able to use a less onerous system, preferably a return to the old system. He offered to enter into a contract with the township, with specific terms being spelled out.

“The problem is that contaminants, non-recyclable materials, were getting into our recycling stream and when that happens our recycling load is rejected at the recycling depot in Renfrew. Each time that happens it costs us up to $1,000 in total,” said Reeve Hogg.

Jim Reynolds said that he hopes the township can make an arrangement with Seamons, who said he might get out of the garbage business if the situation is not resolved.

“We have steadily increased our recycling, and I fear that if this is not resolved we will end up with no service, and that will result in garbage being dumped at the side of the road,” said Reynolds, who added that one of the attractions of Seamons' service to them is the fact they can deliver their garbage and recycling 24 hours a day instead of having to deal with limited township dump hours.

Seamons also asked that he be able to dump his trailer full of bagged garbage onto the waste pile instead of having to pull the bags out of his trailer one at a time and place them on the pile.

“I am 73 years old and I don’t want to have to do this anymore,” he said.

Reeve Hogg pointed out that everyone in the township must follow the same rules. He also said that Mr Seamons' trailer has not always been successful in dumping all the bags on the waste pile, with some leaking out and having to be cleaned up by township crews.

“We need to come to a solution for this,” said Seamons, “there have been problems in the past but I’m talking about the future.”

Council members asked questions of Seamons, but did not have time to address his requests, which they will look at in September.

Truck and paving contracts awarded – One large and one small contract was awarded at the meeting. The large one was the purchase of a plow/sander at a cost of $193,000 from Winslow Geromaly Motors of Peterborough ($225,000 was allocated to the purchase in the 2012 budget).

The smaller item was the paving contract for the handicapped parking sites at the new Denbigh community centre at a cost of $4,800.

Flinton Rec Centre washrooms

Council decided to purchase new doors and stalls for the Flinton Recreation Centre washrooms, as the existing ones are 25 years old and failing. Two quotes will be sought for materials and installation.

Agreements with North Frontenac

Two agreements that were discussed at the joint meeting between Addington Highlands and North Frontenac were ratified. One is to allow Addington Highlands residents access to the Highway 506 waste site in North Frontenac for the disposal of hazardous waste. The second was for a joint protocol for declaring a fire ban.

Editorial by Jeff Green

Everybody is up in arms. Well not everybody, but some people - and those people are really up in arms - about the new clear bag garbage system in Central Frontenac.

People have said a lot about the clear bags: they are unworkable; they are an invasion of privacy; it is unfair that the old bag tags can't be used any more. The whole fiasco demonstrates that the township is out of touch with the people.

Why would a township council impose something like this on its residents?

There is a reason. The recycling rates in Central Frontenac are abysmal. They are very low compared to all of its neighbors, and the township has been facing pressure from the provincial government and its related agencies to address this reality. Provincial regulations are such that when the dumps in Central Frontenac are filled the garbage will have to be shipped out, at an increased cost to ratepayers. Once that happens, taxes will go up to pay shipping and dumping fees.

Exempting recycled materials from dumping fees did not work; there were still recyclables all over the waste pile. After years of hand wringing, the clear bag plan, an idea that had been laughed at when it was proposed years ago by former Councilor Logan Murray, ended up being adopted by this current council.

The clear bags create the potential for the garbage to be refused by the dump attendant if it includes recyclable or hazardous items. The township has the capacity to force people to pull material out of the bag they paid for, and put it in a recycling container for free. It is a forced savings program. My understanding is that the staff at the dump are not being heavy-handed about enforcing the rules.

This all seems like a pretty childish endeavour, sifting through garbage bags to reveal a can or a plastic bottle.

But the fact is that people in Central Frontenac have not been recycling, or the clear bag system would not have been required.

The commercial enterprises, including lodges and restaurants, are indeed being put into a corner by this. They can't always control the way their clientele acts, and if they have to sort the garbage themselves it is a potential hazard to their employees. The same issues arose in North Frontenac when they brought in clear bags, and the township can and will work with the businesses involved to make the system can work.

There is another option that has sprung up as well. Scott's container rentals will take any and all waste, for a price, out of the township to a commercial sump site. So, residents do have an option. Sort out the waste from the recycling or pay extra and throw everything into Scott's bins.

Central Frontenac still has work to do on its waste system, but the clear bags are part of that solution and the message they deliver, that recycling is mandatory at township waste sites, is a necessary one.