Saving Seeds

[Kat]

I was just wondering if anyone could explain to me the basics of saving seeds from this year's crop to plant next year? Do you just remove the seeds from the vegetable (or fruit or whatever) and dry them out, or??? How do you store them?

Just something I am interested in learning more about. Seems frugal and resourceful! ;-)

[flowerseverywhere]

in order to save seeds you have to save them from heirloom plants (open pollinated), not hybrids. Hybrids are combinations of plants and if you save their seeds they will not produce the desired plant when you grow them again. Some you just dry, some have to ferment. Most need dry cool conditions to overwinter. People store them in jars or glasene envelopes. Like other projects like this that people did since the beginning of time but the skill was lost the last 100 years, it will take some trial and error to get it completely right. Like baking bread or making yogurt, at the start there are bound to be some mishaps.

Also, it helps to isolate the plants from one another (ie. one type of tomato or bean from another). I will put a patch of tomatoes in and make sure no other tomatoes are within 50 feet. You can also isolate plants with net bags. Probably the easiest way to start is with beans and peas. One of my old neighbors used to plant peas his mom took over on the boat in the 40's and he continued to save them.

I would suggest getting a good book from the library. "Seed to Seed" by ashworth is especially good. Here is a good webpage.
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/seed-saving.html

the seed savers exchange is another great resource to helping understand why it is so important for home gardeners to do this. http://seedsavers.org/ From the beginning of time people have saved seed from the tastiest, healthiest and best plants and therefore have varieties that are naturally disease resistant and strongest for their own area. There is nothing like the flavor of an heirloom tomato fresh from the garden.

[Jemima]

Here's some adivce from the University of Illinois:

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/hortihints/0008c.html

[puglogic]

I would suggest getting a good book from the library. "Seed to Seed" by ashworth is especially good.

Ditto that. It's my go-to book for saving various kinds of seeds, as there are several different methods depending on what you're saving.

[Kat]

Thanks, everyone, for the info! I will look into the resources you listed. :)