Pickens walked me over to a crop of Redbor kale, which had “bolted” or gone to seed.

“You wouldn’t want to eat this,” he told me, as he pointed to the dried shoots growing out from the middle of the curly purple leaves. Blowing in the wind at the top were long beige seed pods. He opened one up and crushed it back and forth in his palm with one finger so I could see the round, brown seeds, they were so tiny I almost missed them.

Pickens lets the seeds mature and dry, then he separates the seed from the chaff. “It’s labor intensive and delicate and you want to do it in a controlled environment,” he said. He uses low-tech tools including a tarp, a clean, dry trashcan, and a screen.

But that’s just one way to get seeds. Pickens pointed to a wrinkly red Ahi Verde pepper on a yellowing plant that was just about ready to harvest. To remove the seeds, Pickens puts peppers into a blender with water. The seeds deflect off the blade without being damaged, then they get strained, washed, and dried. In fact, all the seeds Pickens harvests go into a hot water bath to be cleaned of any mold or unwanted layers. Then they’re dried and stored in a cool, dark place––either a refrigerator or at the bottom of a closet. I wondered if Pickens’ wife has a hard time finding space to store her shoes, but I didn’t ask.

In addition to River Park Farm and his rooftop in Bushwick, Pickens grows plants at Brooklyn Grange (where he also teaches seed saving classes) and Weeksville Heritage Center. “An important part of having these four locations is isolation distance,” Pickens told me. When some crops, like carrots, go to seed, their pollen can travel up to two miles. “If you want to grow more than one variety of carrot, you need to literally plant them further part,” he said. This year, Pickens will be selling Chantenay carrots, a variety that tastes great and grows exceptionally well in small containers.

One of Pickens’ favorite aspects of the job is meeting other urban farmers. Many of them stop by before or after eating at River Park Restaurant. This year he’ll be selling a variety of green bean given to him by an Italian couple with a home farm in Sheepshead Bay. They referred to it simply as their “long Italian bean,” but they urged him to take some seeds and grow it. The heirloom bean will be available for sale in December, newly named after the husband: the Mateo bean.

This year Pickens will have 50 varieties of seeds for sale on his website, up from his previous years. New Yorkers who want to start stocking up for spring, can also find them at New York Botanical Garden Store, Dig, Urban Garden Center, and Crest Hardware.

Photos, from top: Seed packets by Chrissa Yee, Zach Pickens in his garden by Larissa Zimberoff, Mateo bean seeds by Larissa Zimberoff.