Saving seeds, it always seemed so daunting for me. Why would I do all of that extra work when I could just go buy more seeds the next season? I mean, that’s why they sell them right? Well, my mind was changed when our first plant stared to bolt and go to seed. I realized that seed saving could be very simple. I had never seen a plant bolt before and thought I had some weird alien plant. I mean look at it, you have to admit it does look strange!
So, to google I went to see what was happening to my plant! I was surprised to find that the plant was ” going to seed”, which just means once the flowers of the plants die off, it starts to produce the seed pods which holds the seeds. How awesome! So all of those weird looking torpedo things had seeds in them! And there was a lot! So, now what?
What to do next
So now, I just wait. I will need to to let all of the seed pods mature and dry up before I harvest them. You will want to keep a close eye on them at this point and make sure that the pods don’t break open and reseed themselves before you can get them off of the plant.
Once they are dry, I cut them from the plant and put them in good storage for when I am ready to plant again! You will want to keep a close eye on them at this point and make sure that the pods don’t break open and reseed themselves before you can get them off of the plant.
I like to take all of the seed pods apart and separate the seeds so that I can put the seeds in packets and label them. You can just leave them all intact on the plant stalk and hang them up. I don’t do it this way because I can never remember what plant they are from. I also put the year that I harvested the seeds on the label. Which is helpful if you don’t plant them all at once. The seeds won’t expire, so don’t throw them away! The germination rate will go down a bit every year that you keep them .
What to do after you have all of your seeds
So, after you have collected all of your seeds/seed pods, you want to make sure they are completely dry. This is very important! If they are not completely dry, they will mold and all of your seeds will be ruined, and that would be such a bummer!! Once they are dried and in your preferred storage container, you will want to store them in a cool dark place until you are ready to plant them!
And thats all there is to it!
You will be all set for your next planting season with you’re own seeds! How cool is that! Now what I thought was daunting turns out seed saving is so simple!
Not all seed pods will look the same. Peas and beans for instance look slightly different, but the concept is the same! We have a video on our YouTube channel that you can check out here. Make sure you follow along on our Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube!
Happy Gardening!
Sam