For Gardeners: From seed to seed — learn to grow your own

Just like growing your own food, saving your own seed is another great way to ensure you are in control of your own food supply — from planting a tiny seed to harvesting your own seeds.

Saving seeds from plants grown in your own garden also ensures that the plants are adapted to your growing environment. This means the plants you grow from your saved seeds have a better chance of thriving in your garden with its unique growing conditions, including soil and climate. It’s also why I’m a big proponent of buying local seeds to begin with!

There is a bit to learn about how to save your own seeds, and it can be overwhelming at first. Let’s start with the basics and the easiest things to save. Then you can use the resources to find books with more information on advanced seed-saving techniques.

First, a general guide on which types of seed you can save and which are easiest to save:

Which Seed Types Can You Save?

• Save seed from open-pollinated (non-hybrid) and heirloom plants

• Save seeds from plants that are self-pollinating (see list below) or follow guidelines to separate plants of the same species

• Plants that are wind or insect-pollinated can easily cross-pollinate (squash family, corn, etc.) and will need to be isolated or hand-pollinated and bagged

• Hybrid (F1) seed will NOT grow true to the original variety. These plants have been cross-bred to share certain genetic traits and are not stable genetically

Check your seed packet or plant label before saving seeds. If your plant is a hybrid variety (usually has an F1 after the name), the seeds saved from that plant WILL NOT grow true to variety. Save seeds only from open-pollinated or heirloom varieties.

Easy Seeds to Save – START HERE

*Tomato seeds require rinsing to remove the wet membrane that protects the seeds from sprouting. Here’s a great video from GrowVeg on how to save tomato seeds.

A Note About Pollination

Many of the above plants are self-pollinating. They don’t share pollen (and therefore DNA) with other plants, making for a better chance of getting seed that grows “true” to the original variety.

For example, tomatoes have flowers with both male and female parts, and the flowers pollinate themselves. They do not require bees or wind to bring pollen from a male flower to the female flower. Occasionally, a bee will cross-pollinate a tomato, but it doesn’t happen very often.

Plants that have separate male and female flowers pollinated by insects or wind can cross-pollinate with other plants in the same species; therefore, the seeds may NOT grow true to type unless isolation methods are used.

For example, if you grow summer squash such as zucchini (Cucurbita pepo) and pumpkins, also C. pepo, the plants will likely cross-pollinate with each other by way of a happy bee flitting from flower to flower.

The seed in both your zucchini and pumpkins will be a mix of the two parents and will therefore produce a myriad of offspring (aka mystery squash in the C. pepo family), due to the natural diversity of the gene pool.

Some other garden plants that easily cross-pollinate and need isolation include:

• Cucurbit family (squash & cucumbers)
• Corn
• Spinach

Ok, now you’re ready to save some seeds! Here’s a general how-to guide with more resources listed below.

Seed Saving How-to Basics

1. Only save seeds from open-pollinated or heirloom plants (if you want them to grow true to the original variety)

2. Only save seed from the biggest and best plants and fruits. These will have the best DNA and best chance of producing big, healthy plants.

3. Leave seed heads on the plant to fully mature & dry, and let fruit fully ripen on the vine (tomatoes, cucumber, squash, etc. should be over-ripe) – ensuring seed maturity

1. Remove seeds from seed pod or fruit. Let seed dry fully indoors at room temperature. Keep ventilated.

2. Package your seeds, label with seed type, variety, and year harvested

3. Store indoors in a place where temperatures do not fluctuate much (no humid areas like kitchens or places with temperature swings like garages or sheds). Store in sealed containers with desiccant packs to reduce moisture.

Only save seed from the best plants/fruits: Save the biggest and best to ensure the seed will grow strong plants. It’s hard to let the biggest cabbage in your garden go to seed (versus eating it), but things like kale you can harvest all season and still save the seeds.

Lettuce Seed Harvesting

You can harvest the seeds by shaking the seed heads in a paper bag, then let them continue to dry in a cool, dark place in the house for a week or so before threshing, cleaning, and storing the seeds.

Let It Go (To Flower)
If your carrots bolt, you will get loads of seeds, plus pretty flowers and lots of beneficial insects like these soldier beetles.

Make the bees happy and let your plants go to flower and set seed, even if you don’t intend on saving the seeds. Birds will eat the seed all winter long!

Marigold seed heads dry on the plant throughout late summer and fall. Simply pluck them off and save them indoors for next season. Bonus: Taking off the spent flowers (deadheading) will cause it to produce even more blooms

Free plants! Many plants will self-seed (like lettuce, chamomile, arugula, borage, nasturtium, calendula and more) and return on their own next spring. It’s fun to experiment with seed-saving from different plants and crops.

Plant Enough to Share

The best part about saving your own seed is that you can share with your friends and neighbors, helping to encourage others to grow their own food. You can also share your seed bounty at your local seed swap or free seed library. Seed swaps are a great way to share seeds and explore new and unique varieties.

The Lynnwood Library hosts a community seed swap the first weekend in March each year and hosts a year-round, free seed library. The seed library is open during library hours and is free for community members to take seeds – no library card required. For more info on seed libraries near you, check out this post from PCC Markets.

Resources for Further Learning

More seed-saving information:
• Uprising Seeds – UprisingOrganics.com, one of my favorite local seed companies with seed-saving information right on their seed packets

• Seed Savers Exchange – SeedSavers.org

Gardening books on seed-saving:
• The Resilient Gardener & Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties, by Carol Deppe
• Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners, 2nd Edition, by Susan Ashworth

Marni Swart is a certified sustainable urban agriculturist, garden coach, certified permaculture designer, nursery woman, and owner of Growing Roots Together. Marni’s passion is teaching people how to sustainably grow more of their own food, herbs, and medicine as a way of building connections with nature and within communities. Learn more at GrowingRootsTogether.com.

For Gardeners is a monthly column by and for local gardeners.