Seed Saving for the Home Gardener
Why save seeds?:
I've saved certain seeds from our garden for the last couple of decades. I find it not only enjoyable, but also empowering to be somewhat self-sufficient. There are many other reasons for saving seeds from our gardens, for example:
- Some plant varieties are no longer available through seed catalogs. If we enjoy their produce, then they're worth saving.
- Saving seeds given to us by friends feels important because the seeds maintain a cherished connection through our life-times.
- Since 1900, 94% of seed varieties have been lost. For the sake of our future and future generations, let's protect the precious heirloom seed varieties that remain so that we are not totally dependent on corporations for our food.
- During a pandemic like Covid, many people began gardening and it was difficult to buy the varieties of seeds we wanted. If we begin saving some seeds from our gardens now, our gardens will be more sustainable and we'll always have enough seeds to plant.
Some basic do's and don'ts:
Jump on the learning curve:
Seed saving can be a pretty complex topic. Suszanne Ashworth wrote a beautiful book on seed-saving called, Seed to Seed. It is inclusive and well written, but in truth, it was a bit overwhelming when I began learning the "how-to's" of seed-saving. Therefore, I want to give you the basics of seed-saving here. This information will allow you to successfully save and share seeds. Then if you're ready for more information, I encourage you to explore Ashworth's book.
Heirloom versus hybrid:
First of all, don't save seeds from hybrid plants. Hybrid seeds will not grow offspring like their parent plant. You might come up with something interesting and that could be fun, but you won't be able to depend on a worthwhile harvest. It's best to remember that only heirloom plants will breed true.
One reasons for choosing hybrids:
Do I ever grow a hybrid plant? Yes, despite not being able to save their seeds, I justify buying one variety of bush beans because, rather than having to trellis it as I do all the heirloom varieties that I grow for drying, it's a bush bean that reaches 18" and is very tender and delicious. Smaller plants are certainly easier to work with.
Ditto for tomatoes. I grow and save the seeds from an heirloom cherry and a large paste tomato that are incredibly prolific and flavorful, but their bushes are huge as they throw their "arms and legs" all over. When there's a smaller planting area, the better-behaved hybrid bushes are appreciated!
Cherokee Trail of Tears beans are heirloom beans that are easy to grow and easy to save their seeds while also providing winter meals. They do take staking to grow however!
Perfect flowers:
Secondly, only plants whose flowers have both the male and female parts (called “perfect flowers”) are able to pollinate themselves. You can trust their seeds to grow plants and produce like the parent plant.
This flower, from our dwarf lemon tree, has "perfect" flowers. This means that each flower has both male and female parts and that fertilization can occur within each flower. In this photo, we see the female "stigma" (which is part of the "pistil"), in the center surrounded by the male "anthers" (which is part of the "stamens").
Imperfect flowers:
As you begin to look closely at the flowers in your vegetable garden, you'll see that many have “Imperfect flowers.” Because this means that they contain either the male or female parts, but not both. To be fertilized, they will need cross-pollination. This is usually accomplished by insect pollinators or the wind.
Examples of garden vegetables that have "imperfect" flowers, are
peppers and all vine plants like zucchini, squash and pumpkins.
If one of these flowers is cross-pollinated by another variety, the seeds from its offspring won't produce the same variety. For example, a pumpkin can grown from a blossom that was cross-pollinated. That pumpkin, whether hybrid or heirloom, will look and tastes like its parent. However, the seeds from that pumpkin won’t breed true the following year.
These zucchini plants have imperfect flowers and grew in our lean-to greenhouse. They couldn't be cross-pollinated by other varieties when isolated in the greenhouse, but without wind or other pollinators, I enjoyed being the pollinator by taking the stamen from a male flower and pollinating the female flowers.
If you do want to save seeds from your summer or winter squashes, then you’ll have to tape shut the female flowers and fertilize them with an “anther” from a male flower. That’s one way to isolate them. As crazy as this procedure sounds, it’s both possible and fun to do.
Avoiding cross-pollination:
There are other ways of saving seeds from plants that could cross pollinate. Large seed companies use cages to isolate different species of the same plant. Another option they have is to plant them at enough distance that they can't be cross-pollinated by wind or insects.
We home gardeners can us simpler methods, such as isolating one lettuce species which could cross-pollinate. We usually don’t like lettuce to “bolt” because it then begins to taste bitter. However, if you allow only one type of lettuce to bolt or go to seed, you can save that seed. Choose a different species of lettuce each year so you can keep several in stock.
Exceptions:
Finally, when saving tomatoes, cross-pollination only occurs in varieties that have potato leaves. "Potato leaves" have smooth and not serrated edges. However, if we only plant one variety of tomato that has the "potato leaf," there is no worry about cross-pollination.
Potato leaf tomato plant
How to save seeds:
It's easy:
You'll be glad to know that "how to save seeds" is much simpler than the above discussion about what seeds can or cannot breed true. I cherish the heirloom tomatoes that I've kept through the years by saving their seeds annually. How to save their seeds will apply to other heirloom crops too, so we'll use tomatoes as an example.
Choose large, well-shaped and fully ripened fruit of each type of tomato you want to save. You only want the genetics from your best produce, because these seeds can be past on to future generations. For years I saved tomato seeds by simply separating a dozen or so seeds of each variety on a separate and labeled paper towel. They stick to the paper when dry and I then fold the towel and keep it in a cool and dry place—usually in a zip-lock plastic bag in the refrigerator or freezer. If I’m sharing more than one variety of seeds with friends, I have each variety on one square of paper towel, each labeled with their name.
Nature's way:
Nature, however, adds an additional step to save tomato seeds for the following spring. When a tomato falls to the ground and rots, its seeds under-go a fermentation process which prevents microbial infections. This fermentation also allows the seed to sprout more readily the next year. To mimic that step, put the seeds in water in small paper cups (with the type of seed written on it), for about three days. After the water appears foamy or gets a scum on it, pour the seeds into a small strainer, rinse, and then transfer them to a paper towel to dry completely. Any seeds that float when put in water are non-viable, and you will know not to bother planting them.
For eating or planting:
Beans are another easy-to-save seed. They will always breed true for you. Let them fully mature and dry on the plant. If it’s a wet autumn, take the plants to a protected area so the beans won’t mildew. You can later sit with friends and shell and talk, and you’ll have beautiful beans for cooking in the winter and for planting in the spring.
After shelling, I put beans indoors on cookie sheets which are first covered with labeled paper towels. While leaving them to fully dry on the back porch table, I gradually pick out any shriveled beans and debris. Then, before putting the beans in covered glass jars for winter use, I pick through them like jewels and choose the prettiest ones to be planted in next year’s garden. As with all the seeds you save, choose the ones that are the largest and healthiest looking. In this way we can actually choose the genetics we want to grow, and improve our seed stock each year.
Longevity:
Nature sometimes saves seeds in the ground for several years before the conditions are right for them to sprout. Therefore, I sometimes plant seeds that have been stored in the freezer for two or three years or more. The seeds' viability will not be quite as good, but the vast majority sprout to become another precious heirloom plant.
The sustainable practice of seed saving will help us and future generations continue to have some genetic diversity with heirloom plants. Planting, saving, storing and sharing these seeds is a huge contribution to future generations.
Keep learning:
If seed saving sounds overwhelming, then pat yourself on the back when you get some tomato seeds saved this year. However, if you find saving seeds interesting, then Suzanne Ashworth’s “Seed to Seed” book will be worth your $25 investment.
