Seed saving isn’t difficult but can be daunting if you have never done it before. Find out what seed saving supplies you need to get started without having to spend lots of money.
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What is seed saving?
Seed saving is the process of saving seeds from fruits, vegetables, flowers, herbs and grains which are open pollinated to grow the next season.
Seeds saved from open pollinated, non-hybrid plants help improve diversity in the garden, reduce the costs associated with buying seeds each year, increase your seed bank and can be an exciting garden experiment seeing what grows the next season.
Start with the Right Seed
Start your garden with open pollinated and heirloom seeds to have the best chance at seed saving. Some great suppliers of seeds online are:
Saving seed from hybrid or F1 plants is not recommended as they will not grow true to type or grow like the parent plant did that you saved seeds from. Learn more about seed types here.
Essential Seed Saving Supplies
Watch the video below to see the seed saving tools and supplies you can use as a seed saving beginner or read on to learn about the tools you need.
Cutting Tools
A good set of hand pruners or secateurs
A sturdy pair of dedicated kitchen scissors
Gloves
Some seeds are tough to get out of their casing like dried peas or beans and kale. Protect your hands from splinters and use gardening gloves to separate the seeds from the pods and casing.
Pens
Marker pens are a must! Make sure you label your containers of seeds so you know which variety or seeds you have. Come can look identical for example, broccoli, cabbage, kale and tatsoi seeds all look the same, can you remember which is which after a week or more drying?
Tubtrug or Bucket
Flexible Tubtrugs
Paper Bags
Paper lunch bags are my favorite to harvest and dry seeds into but larger paper grocery bags work for bigger quantities of seed being stored.
Paper allows air and moisture to move through so your seeds can dry out if placed somewhere cool and dry. These bags are also easily labelled and can be composted when empty and are cheap or even free to get hold of.
Mason Jars
Plants like cucumbers, melons, tomatoes, zucchini and winter squash need to have their seeds fermented to remove the pulpy, gel coating around the seed. To ferment the seeds, scoop them out into a mason jar and cover with water and let them ferment for 1 to 3 days.
The viable seeds are the ones which will grow and these sink to the bottom. Seeds which won’t grow float to the top of the jar and can be poured off. Rinse the good seeds with clean water and spread them out to dry.
Paper Towels and Paper Plates
Seeds that have been through the fermenting process need to dry out. Popular methods include paper plates and paper towels. I use paper towels because once the seeds are transferred to their final container in the seed bank, I can toss the paper towel into the compost heap.
Summary
Seed saving can be done with some simple tools and it is important to keep seeds dry and properly labelled. Separate the seeds from the pods or flower and allow to dry thoroughly, fruits like cucumbers, melons and tomatoes should be fermented to remove the jelly coatings to stop them from going bad in storage.
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Always ensure to operate safely. All projects are purely “at your own risk” and are for information purposes only. As with any project, unfamiliarity with the tools, animals, plant and process can be dangerous. Posts, podcasts and videos should be read and interpreted as theoretical advice only and are not a substitute for advice from a fully licensed professional.
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