Saving Seeds

There are many benefits to saving your own seeds. One is that you are collecting seeds from plants that have adapted to the specific growing conditions in your garden. Another is that you can choose the healthiest plants to collect seeds from, and select for the traits you want, such as high yields, large fruit, early ripening, wonderful flavour or great fragrance.

By saving your own seeds you know you are starting with the freshest seeds with the highest germination rates, the best start a plant can hope for. You can also grow plants that may not be commercially available, such as hollyhocks that have been growing in your grandmother's garden for fifty years, or beans, passed along by a wizened gardener in the community.

Instead of paying a lot for a little pinch of seeds you will have containers full of them! Plenty for you to share with family and friends. Best of all you can barter your precious seeds at a community seed show, such as Seedy Saturday, and exchange them for specialty seeds from other gardeners.

Most importantly, by saving seeds, you are empowering yourself to look out for your future security. In these times of climate change, threats of war and rapid population increase, who knows what's going to happen to the global food supply? It’s reassuring to know that you can collect the seeds you’ll need to grow your own food.

Saving Seeds Successfully

There are a few basic things you need to know about saving seeds. Choose open-pollinated rather than hybrid seeds to guarantee that you get the same plant year after year, (as long as cross pollination does not occur). Hybrid plants, result from crossing two parent plants. If you save seeds of hybrids, the plants will not come true in the next generation. The resulting plant may revert back to characteristics from one or the other of the parent plants, or display an undesirable mix of both. Species of plants which have not been hybridized will reproduce to the original plant. Open-pollinated vegetables will grow into the same vegetable as the parent plant, as long as cross-pollination with a different variety of the same species has not occurred.

It’s important to know whether plants are self-pollinating or cross-pollinating. Plants such as tomatoes, peppers, beans, lettuce and peas have ‘perfect flowers’, and as a result are self-pollinating. Their flowers hold both male and female parts, so they can be pollinated without the assistance of bees, insects or the wind to carry the pollen. This allows the gardener to grow hundreds of varieties in close proximity to one another. To be sure accidental crossing does not occur different tomato varieties should be separated by a distance of 6 feet, (30 feet if they are heritage potato-leaf varieties ); different varieties of lettuce should be 10 feet apart; bush beans need to be separated by 10 feet, pole beans by 30 feet. Consult one of the references below to ascertain correct isolation distances.

Many plants, such as squashes, have ‘imperfect flowers’, which means there are separate male and female flowers on each plant. In this case the gardener must take isolation distances into account when planting. If you’ve ever had an unidentified squash volunteer in your garden, it’s the result of cross pollination between varieties of squash grown the previous year. Squash needs to be isolated by 1/4 mile to prevent insects spreading pollen from the male flowers of one to the female flowers of another variety.

Biennial crops such as beets, carrots and cabbages produce their edible crop in the first year and set seed the following season. These crops need isolation distances of 1/4 mile to prevent cross-pollination. Carrots will cross with wild carrots (Queen Anne's Lace) if they are grown within 1/4 mile of each other. Brassicas, e.g.: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, collards, kale and kohlrabi must be separated by 1/4 mile to prevent cross-pollination. Get to know your isolation distances for saving veggie seeds, or you will be harvesting a future crop of mutant veggies!

Collect your seeds before they disperse naturally. The timing for collection is critical; observation is the key to success. Wait until the seed is ready and ripe enough for collection, but don't wait until the seeds have scattered all over the garden, or the birds have swooped in and eaten them.

If you’ve ever found an envelope of seeds and wondered what they were, or how old they were, you will know how important labeling is. For everything you collect, identify the species and variety, record any special features, and record data such as the place the seeds were collected and the date of collection.

I'll never forget my friend's dismay at discovering that her container of precious hollyhock seeds had gone mouldy. Drying seeds thoroughly is critical before storing them in sealed containers or envelopes. The larger the seeds, the longer they need to dry properly. I spread mine out on ceramic plates and let them dry in a warm area away from direct sunlight. I allow two weeks or more for thorough drying.

Before storing seeds, clean them by removing the chaff, and remove other debris by sieving seeds through screens of different sized mesh. Complete the cleaning process by winnowing them in a light breeze to remove any tiny particles or dust. I use a hairdryer on a low, cold setting to do this. Some seeds, e.g. melons, squash, cucumbers, tomatillos and tomatoes are cleaned by a wet process, where they undergo a fermentation process for a few days. Fermentation eliminates seed-borne viruses and allows fertile and infertile seeds to become separated. How is this done?

The best place to store seeds is in a cool dark area, away from fluctuations in light and moisture. The ideal temperature for storage is 55°F Celsius?. You can prolong the storage life of your seeds by keeping them in an airtight, waterproof container in the fridge, and even longer by freezing them. Paper envelopes or airtight containers such as yoghurt tubs work fine for seed storage.

This may sound like a lot to remember, but once you begin you will discover that saving your own seeds is relatively straight forward. The satisfaction of taking out your containers of seeds in spring to begin a new cycle of growth will more than compensate for your efforts the previous year.

Excellent guides to saving seeds:
'Seed to Seed' by Suzanne Ashworth. (Seed Saver Publications)
The Seed Savers’ Handbook by Jeremy Cherfas, Michael and Jude Fanton (Grover Books)
‘The New Seed Starters Handbook’ by Nancy Bubel (Rodale Press)
'How to Save Your Own Vegetable Seeds', from Seeds of Diversity, P.O. Box 36, Station Q, Toronto, Ontario,
M4T 2L7 ($9), or can be ordered through the Westcoast Seeds catalogue.

How to save Tomato seeds

Leave the seeds to ferment for four days during which time a white ‘scum’ forms on top. This dissolves the gelatinous seed layer, preparing the seeds for future germination, and destroys any seed-borne pathogens. I put a saucer over the container, because fruit flies love this process!

After four, but no more than five days, rinse the seeds in a large bowl by filling the bowl with water. Good viable seeds sink to the bottom, and ‘dud’ seeds float to the top. Gently pour this off, repeating this rinsing as many times as you need, until all that’s left in the bowl are cleaned seeds. Pour these into a sieve and give them a final rinse; tap off any excess moisture and then spread the seeds onto a ceramic plate to dry. Keep the label on the plate, so you don’t muddle up which ones are being collected. I avoid drying seeds on paper towel, as seeds stick to it and have to be picked off one by one, although some people tell me they sow the seeds stuck on the paper towel.

Place the plates of seeds in a sunny window for a day or two to dry them; crumble the seeds with your fingers to separate any that have stuck together; leave them spread out on plates for another week or two in a warm place to thoroughly dry. They are then ready to be stored in labeled, airtight tubs. Fresh seed stored properly will germinate for at least five years.

You’ll be amazed how many seeds you can save from a handful of tomatoes. There’s no better start for tomatoes than your own fresh seed, collected from the healthiest plants. I find tomato plants I grow from my own seeds get better as years go by, as they are ideally acclimatized to my garden’s unique growing conditions. Go on, give it a go - squishing and squeezing is good for the soul!