Saving Seeds from your Garden

Originally posted September 17, 2020.

Saving seed is defined as: the traditional process of saving and storing seeds from crops one year to be used in following year(s). In this blog we’ll give you the run down of basic seed saving. Pull out your notes from high school botany and follow along!

Jericho lettuce seed

crop Selection

Plants that are self-pollinating, like tomatoes, peppers, beans, peas and cauliflower, are going to be some of the easiest seeds to save. Other vegetables like squashes, corn, carrots and beets are more difficult, though not impossible to save.

When deciding which plants to let bolt, consider which traits you want your future plants to express: slow bolting, taste, cold hardiness, pest and disease resistance etc. Take a look through your garden and determine which plants express the desired traits and mark those beauties. You CAN and should save seed for multiple traits!

Lastly, be sure to harvest seeds from your most vigorous plants. These crops have already proven that they can succeed in their climate and environment. In this way, you are naturally selecting for future success! If you have a large enough population size, you may be able to “rogue out” (remove) some of the weaker plants that you don’t want.

Considerations for seed saving

• Population size

  With a larger population size, you’re able to save more seed with many desirable traits. If you save seed from only one plant, you’re condemning your future crops to the same genetic material of this single plant. You want rows of lettuce that are not only flavorful, but perhaps a mix of disease-resistant, slow bolting and larger in size.

• Isolation distance

  Isolation distance is recommended so that plants don’t accidentally cross-pollinate. In general, plants that self-pollinate require the shortest isolation distances (e.g. lettuce) and wind-pollinated crops require the greatest isolation distance (e.g. corn).

• Hybrid vs. open-pollinated

  Open-pollinated plants, often to referred to as “heirlooms”, are the better option for seed saving than hybrids. Open-pollinated plants will set seed and bear fruit that grow into plants that will still be very similar to the parent plant for many generations to come. Hybrids, on the other hand, are crosses between two different varieties and the resulting plants grown from the hybrid seeds will not be identical to the hybrid parents.

Beet seeds about ready to be harvested!

Harvesting

How

For dry fruited crops, this can be as simple as going out to the garden and handpicking a few mature seedpods. You can use harvesting methods like threshing and winnowing to make sure that every bit of seed pod and chaff has been removed from the seed.

Seeds that develop in a wet, fleshy fruit (tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, etc.) will require an extra step. The best way to extract the seeds here is to put your crop in a jar or bucket with a bit of water and let it all soak for a bit. The fermentation will eat away the wet flesh and also improves the germination rate of the seed. Give it 3-4 days to work itself out while still monitoring the concoction to ensure that it doesn’t begin to rot. Once ready you can strain the seeds from the liquid. Let your seeds dry out for 1-2 weeks before you move onto storage.

When

For many plants to produce seed, you must wait for the plant to bolt (also known as “going/gone to seed”.) By this time, many crops will become yellow, shriveled and bitter, essentially making them inedible. You won’t get to “have your cake and eat it too” - alas, you’ll have to choose between eating your crop or saving the seed.

Dry fruited crops like grains, lettuce, and beans can be removed from the plant once the seeds are dry and hard. Some vegetables’ seeds, like cucumbers and eggplant, are not ready to be picked until they are overripe and beginning to shrivel up and rot. Each plant’s rate of seed maturity will be different; check online or browse through a seed saving book to determine the proper time frame for each of your seeds.

Insider tip: If there’s rain in the forecast and your seeds are just about ready, you may consider harvesting them early. If they do get wet they’ll just have to dry out for a while longer.

Storage

The key word here is dry. It is crucial that your seeds are completely dry before you store them. Consider leaving them out to dry for a week before you pack them up. Once ready, throw them into a moisture-free container and store in a (yep, you guessed it) dry, cool and dark place. Don’t forget to label your container with the date and type of seed!