This is just an overview. I will get into the nitty-gritty of seed saving over time.
As a backyard grower, we can grow plants for flavor, texture, color and any other attributes that we want because we can grow many different varieties. We have many options as far as variety when it comes to ordering seeds from a seed company – but our options used to be huge. Each year, family heirlooms are lost forever as farmers and families plant the last seeds they have, then they cannot find anyone else to carry on the variety they have grown for so long. This is where seed saving comes in – when we are successful ourselves we can keep our favorites varieties from extinction. There are plenty of hybrids that are excellent for the backyard grower, too, but if you plan to save seed you can’t use them, because hybrid plants are essentially a crossbred plant, it takes two different parents to create that variety – your results of saving seed from hybrid produce will not grow true. As a side note, hybrid plants are not GM (genetically modified). To explain, that is another post. There is a lot of confusion surrounding hybrid and GMO seeds – you won’t find GMO seeds available to the backyard grower. As well, hybrid and GMO plants are two completely different methods.
Saving seed can be a work of love with a lot of planning thrown in. Not every type of fruit, vegetable or herb is easy to save and almost everything requires planning before you plant those seeds if you wish to save them! If you start by planting a hybrid variety (mixed breed), or your plants cross-pollinate with another variety, your saved seed won’t be true. You will have created, or continued, a hybrid variety of plant that cannot reliably produce the type of vegetable you are expecting – if it even grows at all. Sometimes, the plant will grow but won’t produce fruit. Luckily there are some pretty fool proof vegetables to save seed from and it doesn’t have to be complicated if you want to stay simple. Keeping the seed pure is pretty important though, so always use open pollinated or heirloom varieties of seeds if you wish to save seed from the plants you grow. That is the first step to a foolproof seed saving experience. If you want to produce your very own hybrids, that is certainly possible but beyond the scope of this article.
Tip: You can generally tell if a seed is a hybrid by it’s name – if it has an “F1” in front of it, it’s a hybrid. The description on the front or back will also tell you. If you’re still not sure, google has always been my friend when it comes to looking up varieties to see if they are hybrids or not!
So, how does one go about planting a garden with the intent to save some seed? Well, to prevent cross pollination, some plants need to be a certain distance apart, require taller plants (that they cannot cross with) planted in between them to act as a barrier, or require fine mesh bags over their blossoms while in bloom. You could also cage your plants or plant some vegetables so their blooms are staggered (and thus reduce the chance of cross pollination). Some plants don’t produce seed until the next growing season, so you will need to keep them alive through the winter. These are all things you will need to take into consideration when planning your garden. You may need to hand pollinate if you are using blossom bags to ensure purity. Another option is to stagger planting times so two or more varieties in the same family that you wish to save are not in bloom at the same time. Keep an eye on days to maturity and your growing season so you don’t end up with some plants not being mature until after your first frost! That is especially important if you are growing a warm weather crop that requires time to over ripen or dry on the vine.
You want to save seed only from healthy plants that are producing well and look for plants that display characteristics that are important to you in your climate – such as bolt resistance (perhaps you planted a row of greens and you notice a few are slow to bolt – pick those plants to save seed from if they are otherwise healthy), pest resistance, etc. You don’t want to select just the biggest and best vegetable because that will negatively affect your long term growing. Instead, choose vegetables from a wide selection of plants that are growing true to type and pick the best vegetables that are true to type (even if they are not the biggest) and growing on plants that are healthy and producing well. Of course, you will not want to save seed from plants that have been stunted, diseased, ravished by pests, or is otherwise compromised.
Your seeds, over time, can grow a type of immunity against disease and learn to grow – and grow well – in your soil conditions. In order to keep growing healthy, vigorous plants you need to save seed only from the best plants. That may mean sacrificing your best vegetables if you have only grown a few plants, if they are your best true-to-type examples. Luckily with some plants, like tomatoes, you can save seed when you pull them off the vine and prepare to eat them. However with others, such as cucumbers, squash, beans and peas (and more), you will need to let them over-ripen (past the point of being edible), or dry right on the vine.
This brings up another important point – you will want to grow enough plants to be able to BE selective and SEE which plants display characteristics you want. A few plants of this and that will not give you enough to be able to be that selective. If you only grow a few tomato plants, for example, and none of your tomatoes grow true to type, you will not want to save seed from any of those plants! Having a large selection is key. We need to keep in mind that vegetables are constantly changing depending on our growing conditions, weather, pests, disease, etc. What we save is what we will grow, and if we aren’t careful and choose vegetables to save seed from that are not the best representations of what we want to grow, your entire future crop will begin to go downhill and your options for selecting true to type seeds will dwindle.
Once you have figured out when and how to grow the plants, you need to learn when and how to save seed. Some plants will need to dry on the vine, and you save their seed once you pluck them from the vine. Others need to over-ripen several weeks past the point of being edible but should not be allowed to completely dry on the vine (seed will rot), some plants won’t produce seed until the next year (so you will need to make plans to either keep them protected over the winter if you live in a cold winter climate), or pull them and over winter them in your home(and learn how to do that, as different veggies vary in proper procedure). Seed saving procedures vary from plant to plant. Tomatoes seeds need to undergo a fermentation process to remove the gel covering, but the majority of seeds can easily be dried either in the pod (on the vine), or simply set out to air dry.
Having said all of that, my best advice to the new seed saver is this: Pick a single vegetable or two for starters. Pick the easiest vegetables that don’t require any fancy planning or techniques – tomatoes, beans and peas are the most popular. Do your own research on which varieties to plant. Then, do it. The next year, plant those seeds (mark them somehow so you can tell which is saved, and which seed was purchased if you plant both). Keep records through the growing season to track their performance. Save seed from the best fruits. And do it all over again. Each year, add one or two similar plants to the seed saving repertoire. After a few years you will have the hang of the easy stuff. Take it easy, go slow, and most importantly find the joy in growing more self sufficient.
I will post more on this topic!