Seed Saving

[Digeroo]

Encouraged by the HSL I have started saving more and more of my own seed. 

I saved a lot of french beans which are self fertile and so easy.    I have also saved runner beans for a number of years which are rather more random since they require the bees to pollinate and so you do not necessarily know the father so what you get is a bit of a gamble. 

One of my own saved marrows won the local biggest marrow competition.  Again it is an outbreeder.  Not very big by national standards but it amused me.  I have also got some interesting saved seeds from the seed swap.

I should like to persuade more people to try some seed saving.  I thought that this winter I might start a seed savers swap.   

[Digeroo]

[Robert_Brenchley]

Good idea. I'm planning to save peas like mad, some beans, and some squashes. Maybe other things, depending how it goes. Beans are easy; just let the beans dry as far as possible on the plant. If you get really wet weather, you can cut the whole thing down, put it in someting breatheable like a hessian sack (available from eBay) and leave the whole lot to dry out. It'll use its last dying gasp to mature the seeds. Peas drop seeds the moment they're dry, so I always do this as the crop is coming to an end. I get a lot of shrivelled little seeds from pods which didn't mature properly, but I've been pleasantly surprised how many of these germinate.

[Ian Pearson]

Yes, it's got to be the way to go. Seed companies seem to be putting less and less seed in to packets now. I save a few things, but need to get better organised with drying and storing.
I've saved peas and beans with success, and toms which are also easy. I've just sown some parsnip seed that I saved last Autumn, so we shall see how it does (equivalent of 8 to 10 packets from one plant!).
I save Hungarian grazing rye for green manure every year (just leave a bit at the end of the bed when the rest is hoed off, plenty of grain by late Summer). In fact that is saved rye seed growing in the photo on the left.
Salsify has also worked for me, and French marigolds, and miners lettuce.

[lottiedolly]

I am going to do my fast show impersonation of the man coming out of his garden shed.

ahemm.....right.....

"This year, I shall be saving, beans, both bush, pole and runner, squash, aubergine, tomato, chili, sweet pepper, cucumber. Will attempt lettuces, salad leaves and fennel.

takes a bow and walks back into shed

;D  :D  ;D


Hopefully, as i gain more confidance, i shall save more and more

n.b. update on the blue osu tomato's... 2 have germinated, so hopefully will have those for swaps at the end of the year.

[doughy]

with it only being my 2ND year? I've been given some parsnip seeds collected by a chap on site.he said "just leave 1 or 2 plants  in to go to seed "? he also has beetroot , peas ,beans some others i think they were flowers.I've also read somewhere that if you save the seeds the plant/plants get more used to there local environment,conditions i think ;D , ???

[starting out]

I would love to be able to save seeds. I dont think I grow anything special as im new to this and just buy my seeds off the shelf but it would be good to know I was using seeds from things I grew the year before.

Only problem is I havnt got a clue  ??? I did try to save some pods from my sweet peas last year but they just went mouldy and the same with the peas but I must have done it wrong.

[Jayb]

I agree seed saving and sharing is very worth while all round. Last year I was again lucky enough to save a variety of different seeds, many I've already passed on either in pass the parcels or other swaps.

I'm taking part in a Seed Swap Circle (on another forum) which is based on http://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedcircle.htm. I think ,a really good way to save and share, not only seeds but information and tips.

I wonder if this is something you had in mind Digeroo, I'd be more than happy to take part in another one. Or if you are not interested I'd be willing to organise if others are interested.

[earlypea]

Good idea  :D

I'd be interested in a self-saved swap a la Digeroo or something more organised as in Jayb's Realseeds suggestion.

I already save a lot myself, but it tends to be obscure crops.  What I'd like to do is have seed saving partners so that I didn't need to save everything myself every time - more of a rotation.

[Wilder]

very interested but again like the poster above, as it's only my second year I only have the bog standards to swap so don't think peeps would be interested.

Also, this won't save me from Newbie's Madness! Last week I just had to buy Chilli "Black Pearl" seeds as, get this, the plant and fruit are BLACK until the fruit ripens to red!! Got them home to find 5 seeds in a pack costing £2.49  :o

(Neophyte Newbies tend not to check basic info like that! ) :-[ :-[ :-[

oh well, if I save some of those I might have something interesting for the swap after all!! ;)

[lottiedolly]

I am happy to join a seed saving circle, it sounds like fun  :)

[Jeannine]

Don't anyone dare tell that newbie who likes black that there dozens of black tomatoes.   ::) ::)XXn Jeannine

[doughy]

I also tried  to save sweetpeas .they also went mouldy? I just wonder if they were not dry enough before storing ??? It would be intresting for suggestions why it happened ;)

[starting out]

I bought some black pepper seeds I think. They are black something anyway. I thought they looked good :) I havnt opened the packet yet though so ive probably only got a handful off those seeds too  ::)

[Digeroo]

It is important to make sure that peas and beans are dry before taking them out of the pods.  I had some beans which flowered very late and I dried some on the windowsill and some on the radiator.   Both lots did well in germination tests.  My suggestion is to leave them in the pods until you require them for sowing.  It also seem to be necessary to remove them from the plant before the frost gets them.  Spread them out well  so the moisture does not get held in.

It is said to be better to pick the whole plant and dry the seeds still attached but I do not find this very user friendly and got bits of dried leaf all over the house.

If the pods bend then they are not dried enough.  They should be dry enough to crack and break before taking the peas out.  The pods seem to have some mechanism for stopping the rot

Most seeds have some indication of the quantities inside.   /But I think that lots of people have been caught out  Sometimes a few seeds can be a good idea one tends to nurture them eg putting them in separate pots and so the result can be worth the extra cost.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I don't think anyone needs to be ashamed because they've only got common varieties. you have to start somewhere after all! I'm growing lots of rare peas this year, and I'm going to have very limited quantities to swap. It makes no sense give them to people who only want to grow a crop to eat, so a seed savers' swap makes more sense the more I think about it. If you've only got common ones now, you could have picked up a lot of rarities by this time next year, and why not if you're going to save them and pass seed on?

I've deliberately given myself the job of saving cucumbers for the HSL this year, so I'll have to get it right, isolate the flowers I'm using, and hand pollinate. I haven't done this before so it's going to be interesting!

I agree about drying seed while it's still inside the pod, since as long as the plant has any life left at all it's still at work trying to mature the seed. If you bag up the whole lot in a big sack, then wait for a dry day and sort your seeds out outside, you won't mess the house up. I share a flat with a couple of extremely fussy women, and haven't got into trouble yet over this one.

[Digeroo]

I have tried hand pollinating courgettes but I have no idea of how to work out if you have been successful.  I suppose you have to grow on and then rogue out.  So it will be a year later before you can release them as true to type.  It is much easier with beans the seeds tend to change colour or shape.  A small white cucumber seeds well looks like a small white cucumber seed. 

[lottiedolly]

I am trying to grow a variety of beans this year (self polinating so starting easy) many from america and not readily available in this country, also some friends have sent me some beans they have saved from their HSL crops so should have those ready this year. I am also trying to save squash (by sealing the flowers with elastic bands and then polinating them) and I am trying to grow a wider variety of tomatos also not readily available as well as chilis, sweet peppers and cucumbers - well, i will attempt to keep them apart. Hopefully I shall have a good swapping selection as well as a seed circle selection (if we start one)

[Robert_Brenchley]

If I bag flowers before they open, hand pollinate, then keep the female ones bagged until they wilt, then if cucumbers form at all it's be hard for them to have crossed with anything! The HSL suggest using masking tape to keep flowers closed, but I'd feel more confident with bags.

[lottiedolly]

If I bag flowers before they open, hand pollinate, then keep the female ones bagged until they wilt, then if cucumbers form at all it's be hard for them to have crossed with anything! The HSL suggest using masking tape to keep flowers closed, but I'd feel more confident with bags.

Oh I can see i am going to have fun trying these with my cues.

[james1]

Digeroo  am also going too save some seeds this year
especially the giant marrow seeds i bought from medwyns 5 seeds for £5.50
and any thing else...........

digeroo have you got any pics of your big marrow attempt
and any tips..................thanks Jim  :)