Seed Saving Season is upon us! This is one my favorite times of year. Everywhere you look there are seed pods ripening and ready to be harvested. For thousands and thousands of years humans have been selecting the fattest, earliest, prettiest and most promising seed pods to save for replanting the following spring. It’s a natural human instinct to see a ripe seed and want to save it for the future. Seeds that are saved and grown out from year to year become adapted to the local eco-system, growing and ripening in synch with local weather patterns, as well as adapting to and becoming resistant to disease. We create cultivars of place when we save our own seed.

I won’t go into a long discourse on the evils of genetic engineering and the loss of seed diversity, or how more and more seeds are being patented and owned by a few large multi-national corporations, making it illegal for people to save their own seed. I will offer a few statistics: like at the turn of the last century there were 1500 food plants being utilized by the world’s population and of those 1500 there were thousands of varieties. Today, about 90% of the world’s nutrition is supplied by just 30 plants. The big four are rice, wheat, corn and soybeans which account for 75% of the calories consumed by humans.

The good news is that there are more and more people and organizations involved in saving seeds and you can become one of them. Start with flowers if you like.

Marigolds, Zinnias and Cosmos are really easy to start with. Once the flowers have faded and the petals have fallen off, just let the seed pod that is left fully ripen. You know they are ready when the pod gets dry and brown. Pluck these off the stem and carefully open to reveal the ripe seeds. Ripe seeds will be brown, tan or black.

I use small manila coin envelopes to hold the seed and I store them in a cool, dark and dry location. Be sure to label your seeds with the variety name and the date the seed was collected.

Some veggies that are good for beginning seed savers include, garlic, beans, peas, lettuce, peppers and tomatoes.

Garlic is easy because you save bulbs and plant the cloves from the bulbs. Choose the largest fattest cloves to plant which will grow the largest plants, yielding the largest bulbs. (See ‘Tips From The Potting Bench’ article dated 6/22/09 for more detailed information on planting garlic).

The other four are easy because they are largely self-pollinating which means you don’t have to do anything special to get the seed to come true.

Beans and Peas you just let them stay on the plant until they have turned brown and dry looking. Pick them off and shell them and store as described above.

Lettuce you want to let bolt and flower. Once the flowers have bloomed you let them continue to ripen, each flower will contain one seed. The best way to gather them is to cut the entire seed head, put it in a brown paper bag and shake the seeds loose. Store seeds as described above.

Peppers you once again let the fruit fully ripen, then cut it open and scoop out the seeds. Let them dry for a few days before you package them. Store seeds as described above.

Tomatoes have been left for last because they are the trickiest. Wait for the fruit to fully ripen and maybe get just a little bit over ripe. Cut it in half and squeeze the pulp and seeds into a jar. Fill the jar with water and let this mixture sit for a few days in warm but shady spot. It is going to stink and get all moldy looking but that is exactly what you want to have happen. This fermentation process acts to break down the gel that surrounds the seed; it also produces antibiotics that actually protect the seed from disease. Once this has taken place, pour off the gross stuff at the top. The good seeds will be at the bottom, any found floating at the top are not viable. Add some water to the jar with the good seeds and pour it off through a strainer to rinse the seeds, continue rinsing until they are clean. Now spread them on a plate and let them dry in a shady spot. Once they are dry gently rub them to separate them and package them up, storing as described above.

Selection is the name of the game here. You want to save seed from the plants that have beneficial characteristics like early ripening, big fruit, pretty flowers etc. In this way, year after year, you are creating a variety that is just right for the conditions in your yard, and for your family. You are also contributing towards increasing genetic diversity, which in turns helps create and stabilize our planets larger eco-system.