Saving seeds from your plants may seem like a lot of work and hardly worth the effort but it can be simple to do, help you produce lots of plants at little expense and it can save you money too.
Before we go into details of how to do it – and there are different ways with various plants – I want to explain some basic limitations and hints.
F1 hybrids
Fi hybrids do not breed true from seed so it is not worth saving seeds from them. The plants you produce will not be the same as the plants this year. This can include many tomatoes, peppers and lots of garden flowers grown as annual bedding plants. In addition, many are bred to be sterile and they do not set fertile seeds. Most perennials will not breed true either but the plants may still be worth having.
Vegetables
Many vegetables do not produce seeds in their first year. You have to grow the plants for a second year for them to bloom and set seed. For example, a carrot, onion or leek should not bloom the first year so you have to keep one or two in the ground or replant the root next spring and it will bloom and set seed. It may not be worth the effort. On the other hand a single leek plant will produce many hundreds of seeds. Do not save seeds of carrots or onions that bloom (bolt) the first year – this is an undesirable characteristic and you don’t want that!
Beans of all kinds are worth saving, along with tomatoes, peas, turnips, radish and even lettuce if you let one plant ‘run to flower’ and seed. Many people keep their runner beans for many years by saving the seeds each autumn.
Shop-bought veg
A lot of what we buy to eat is either grown from F1 hybrid seed or is imported, so the variety is suited to warmer climes than our own. So it is not good practice to save seeds from shop-bought tomatoes, pepper, melons or squash.
Garden flowers
It is worth saving seeds of lots of garden flowers, especially annuals. Foxgloves are easy to save, along with cosmos, marigolds, poppies and many more. Some perennials are good to save too, like lupins, delphiniums and campanulas. The resulting plants may not be identical to the parents but that is not critical.
Fruit
Most tree fruit will not breed true from seed and the seedlings may take many years to produce fruits. So it may be fun but don’t expect a quick or tasty crop from seedlings if you sow apple or pear pips, lemons, orange or plums.
Paper not plastic
Always collect seeds on dry days. If seeds are moist they will rot. Collect them in paper bags or envelopes and either empty them onto paper in trays or leave them in the bags to dry out at room temperature. Do not use artificial heat. Once dry they can be cleaned and kept in a cool, dry place ready for sowing.
Good and easy
Plants that produce seeds in pods are the easiest to save. Let the pods mature and go brown on the plants. Sweet peas and lupin pods will split open and throw the seeds around so close the bag.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are a good seed to save. It is best not to save seeds of F1 hybrids which means most shop-bought tomatoes. The seeds will probably grow – just the plants will not be the same as the tomato you bought. But this is a good method to save seeds of open-pollinated kinds such as ‘Gardener’s Delight’ and ‘Alicante’ as well as rare heirloom kinds like ‘Brandywine’ and others. Here I am saving seeds of ‘Golden Sunrise’.
First, pick a very ripe, typical fruit. It can even be one you are going to eat – just scoop out some seeds first.
You need to clean off the gel that is on the seeds and the best way to do this is to ‘ferment’ the seeds in water for three days. Put the seeds and gel in a small jar with some water. Shake it every day. Usually the fertile seeds will sink to the bottom and infertile seeds will float and can be scooped off and discarded. But if they all float do not panic.
After three days you can clean and dry the seeds. Scoop off the floating seeds and pour the water and seeds through a sieve.
Gently rub the seeds with the back of a spoon to dislodge the gel and pour more water over them to wash them.
Then put the cleaned seeds on some kitchen paper towel to dry off.
After a day you can pick or scrape the seeds off and put them in a paper envelope. Label it ready for spring. All done!