Saving Garden Seeds

Barbara Taylor

Back in my grandmother’s time, most gardeners saved their own seed from their favorite plants. Neighbors traded seeds with neighbors. Gardeners bragged about their own variety of lettuce (or cabbage or squash).

Seeds are relatively inexpensive and there’s a good variety at garden centers, so why save seed? Because:

There’s a feeling of joyful pride when you see your treasured plants grow once again in your garden from seeds you have saved.

If the plants do well in your garden, they are acclimated to your climate and soil, and the plants will do well or even better in the same conditions next year.

They will naturally become more disease and insect resistant over the years with average care.

You also save money. And it’s fun to do.

Sometime in the fall, usually before the first freeze, I havemy garden seed stored and ready for planting next year.

The basic requirements for saving seeds:

Save only non-hybrid seeds. Hybrid seeds will usually revert to the parent plant with characteristics you won’t want. A good heirloom plant has been through countless generations and has developed good disease and insect resistance.

Know which varieties of plants do well in your climate.

Select your best plants and allow them to go to seed – just set them aside for seed saving. I have done this with okra and I’ve developed my own type which is extremely prolific and grows well here. The original seeds came from my garden thirty years ago and the plants get better every year.

Do not plant two varieties of the same family or they will cross polinate (such as two different varieties of watermelons). If you wish to do this, there is a technique to prevent cross polination, depending on the type of plant, which is basically to cage the plant from polination from insects and to hand polinate using a q-tip. Another method, if you just have to have two varieties of a family, is to plant them a month apart so the flowering times are different.

To save the seeds pick them on a dry day without a lot of wind.

The seeds need to be clean and dry before you store them.

The key to storage is lack of moisture. I use small coin envelopes – so many seeds to an envelope labeled and dated – and then place the envelopes in a quart jar with a good lid – I use mayonaise jars. If you have any silica gel sprinkle a bit in the bottom of the jar to absorb moisture, but if you don’t have this you’ll still be okay. You can also freeze the jars, but I’ve never tried this. I place mine in a cool, dark place in the house.

Equipment you’ll need: a good mesh strainer with a handle, coin envelopes or small envelopes, glass jars, and paper sacks (I use the white lunch sacks so I can see the seeds in the bottom).

There is a different technique for each family of seed.

I have planted Porter tomatoes for the last four years because they do so well in this southwestern climate (they practically grow wild because they come up on their own if I

didn’t keep them picked well). It’s a small sauce tomato which I use for a base for my salsa, as well as in salads, and it’s okay, but not super, for eating fresh. I plant these at the other end of the property from my hybrids.

Tomato seeds need to ferment to germinate well next year. I get two clean small butter tubs and squeeze out seeds from about ten tomatoes in them and add water to cover the seeds well. In a few days a mold will form on top. Stir this down. Repeat for three days. (This can get pretty smelly, so choose a place in your house where it won’t bother you.) Then pour out the seeds into a strainer and spray wash them well. Once they’re clean, dry them on a paper plate for a couple of weeks (they need to be bone dry) and then they’re ready to store. This method will also eliminate any tomato disease.

Cucumber seeds are fermented the same as tomatoes.

On the Okra plant which I’ve saved for seed (because it’s the very best) I let the pods dry on the plant. I clip them off when they’ve browned and store them in a paper sack and store the sack in a cool place. The pods themselves will protect the seed from moisture. In the spring I open the pods and collect the seeds when I’m ready to plant.

My favorite lettuce is Black Seeded Simpson. The seeds are abundant and super easy to save. Collect them when they fuzz up and the seeds turn black. An easy way is to bend the stalk over a paper sack and shake. The seeds will fall to the bottom. Then remove the chaff.

Muskmelon, watermelon, and squash seeds are easy to save. The seeds are best saved from fully mature plants (past eating stage). Just wash them well in a strainer and let them dry out on a paper plate (I stir the seeds every day to keep them from sticking to the paper). Once fully dry put them in envelopes marked with variety and date.

I grow a variety of bell Pepper called Jupiter which is non-hybrid. I let a pepper fully mature and scrape the seeds onto a paper plate to dry out well. Then I store them in envelopes.

I have an indian corncorn I save. It’s an open pollinated variety. I keep the dried up corn on the cob in a bucket in a dry place and when I’m ready to plant, I rub off the kernals and plant. I think I had 100% germination last year.

Cabbage and Radish plants will send up seed stalks. Let the pods turn brown and open the pods into a sack and let dry well. Then label and store in an envelope.

Beans (and also Peas) are also easy to save. Just let them dry out on the vine and save them in a jar. This is the only seed I freeze and I do so to keep any bugs from hatching.

Flower seeds are fun. I collect the french marigold seeds throughout the season and save them in a large labeled envelope. The zinnia seeds are stored in a coffee can with a lid because I have so many. I also save cosmos (shake in a bag) and four O’clocks. In the late fall I gather the blue morning glory seeds and save them in a large envelope.

Gourds are allowed to dry out and when I wish to replant I open the gourd and shake out the seeds.

I don’t save seeds on biennials like carrots or parsley because the plants don’t make it though the winter here. But in a pinch, I could do so by planting in a container and keeping it in the greenhouse.

A good seed saving site is:

http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenmaintenance/a/SeedSaving.htm

If you google “saving seeds” you’ll find many more.

There are many good books and pamplets available on this subject. I recommend “Seed to Seed” by Suzanne Ashworth. It covers every plant family and I still refer to it.

I have a small seasonal garden center I operate in the spring. The garden center has helped me form a network with other gardeners and we trade seeds and growing tips. In case of a disaster, I have a good stock of non-hybrid garden seeds, and so do my neighbors.

There are also seed saving organizations whose members trade seeds with each other. Ask around, you may find one in your neighborhood.