How to save your own seeds with tips on storing them
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2024
- Homesaved seed can be stronger growing, from being adapted to your locality and soil. Your own seeds often germinate very strongly too, partly from being super fresh.
There are some key things to know, and I show you the easier vegetables to save seed from. Plus you see some of my results.
Also how to store seed.
00:00 Introduction
00:24 How I saved seed from salad rocket this year - SORRY somehow wrong caption to this because salad rocket is Eruca sativa, while Synapsis alba features later, is the mustard at 18:01
00:54 Comparing results of the homesaved rocket seed with bought seed
01:10 Age of seed - homeasved and bought
01:42 Different needs of different veg for sowing seed, I list the easy ones, then go on to talk about the more difficult ones
02:34 A look at three types of plant being grown for seed, and I explain the process
03:23 For some vegetables you need lots of plants for cross pollination
04:40 Saving seed from onions…
06:26 …beetroot,
07:47 …and carrots, the most difficult of the three because of cross pollination with wild carrot (cow parsley)
08:59 Homesaved potato seed
09:40 Homesaved garlic seed
10:31 I show examples of seed I have saved, and talk about how to store them:
10:40 Lettuce - Grenoble Red and Maravilla de Verano
11:43 Peas - Hurst Greenshaft, Starlight, Tall Sugar and Alderman
12:15 French beans, soybean, Borlotti bean
12:45 Dwarf French bean - Orinoco
13:09 Broad beans - Aquadulce Claudia
13:56 How I dry the seed
14:06 Tomatoes - the difference between F1 hybrid and open pollinated, and the reason not to save seed from hybrid varieties
15:08 Saving seed from flowers
15:27 Melon - Minnesota Midget
16:19 Spinach
16:51 Coriander
17:18 Lambs Lettuce
18:01 Brassica mustard
18:52 Salad rocket
19:44 June the following year, and a look at the beetroot grown from my homesaved seed
Filmed and edited 2021-22 by Edward Dowding edowdingfilms.onfabrik.com/po...
Thumb photo Emma Kane.
Check out this video from four years ago, on saving seed of the simpler vegetables: • Seed Saving
And I explain much more about saving seed in this online module course: charlesdowding.co.uk/product/...
A good book is Back Garden Seed Saving by Sue Stickland 2009, Eco-Logic books
See also Real Seeds website for excellent advice on saving your seedwww.realseeds.co.uk/seedsavin...
These are nice videos about saving different seeds / diyseeds
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That's the cool thing about gardening, there are so many things to do, even off season. I struggle a lot in public so its very motivating for me to save seeds, do my own compost, and be as self sufficient as possible. Thanks Charles for another great video !
So true! And funnily enough, gardening has helped me to be myself in public, long story.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig very true!
You are not alone friend.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig The entire reason I watch your gardening videos is because you are *yourself*. Genuine, not puffed up with conceit. You tell the truth as you know it.
I think seed saving is one of the most amazing and important things a gardener can do. I started shy with only lettuce, arugula and beets and now I save legumes, brassicas, potatoes, greens, alliums, etc. It is so rewarding and the whole learning process is wonderful. I even trade and sell seeds with great germination rate. A must try.
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Charles, what wonderful work you do. You remind me very much of my Dad, who passed away a year before my little girl was born, now she is 1.5yo. He was an organic farmer of garlic and ginger (and anything he was inspired by) I thought my daughter would miss out on the connection I had with growing things - but with your help I have started growing my own garden! and it’s a joy to see my daughter eat snow peas in the garden and feel like my Dad would have loved to be with us. So thank you 💛
Ni Brianna, this is touching and I'm real happy to help 🌱
Great video Charles. More people should learn to save their own seed. So much better than buying them
Thank you Charles for another beautiful and interesting video. By harvesting seeds ourselves, we keep costs low and preserve species for the future.
Thanks Robert, + gain independence
I find saving seeds to give away is just as much fun as gardening. It's sometimes amazing how many seeds you get from some things. This was a great one Charles. I actually don't mind giving the crosses a try, as Forrest Gump's mom said, "it's like a box of chocolates". Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
It really is an amazing thing Wende
@@CharlesDowding1nodig I want to save seed from kale do you leave the plants flower collecting the seeds
LAST YEAR THIS VIDEO WOULD HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY WORTHLESS TO US !!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT THANK GOD WE ACTUALLY GREW SOMETHING THIS YEAR SO WE'RE FINDING IT QUITE HELPFUL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
😂
The DIYSeeds channel has an excellent series of videos covering most commonly grown vegetables. They cover taxonomy, pollination, risk of crossing, overwintering where applicable, gene pool requirements and harvesting methods for each plant. I think they complement this channel very nicely actually - an overview of the topic, some inspiration and a visualisation of the process, then more of a reference type resource for a specific crop.
Thanks for this Jim, I have put a link in the description
Best fun in letting some veg go to seed is the birds it brings in to the garden, such entertainment.
Walking around the garden wondering what Charles is planting right now. Always an inspiration to me thanks to you and your gardeners.
Wonderful, nice to hear Pat
I've saved elephant garlic and have grown a fantastic crop this year,thanks for teaching me so much Charles ! An old friend of mine told me to save brocolli seed,we didn't know the variety so we called it Brians brocolli after him.We sowed some seed that was 4 years old and it germinated within 4 days !!
Wonderful! And a lovely memory.
Love this video ! On potatoes, now that you mention it, I remember I've heard or read that, but I grew up with us & my grandma up the road all typically planting the majority of our potatoes, from our own we still had leftover at that point. My grandma raised 8 kids, they had a big bin ( boxed in corner with it's front being boards you could remove as contents lowered) in their basement storage room which they filled with potatoes in fall. Potatoes were my favorite food as a kid, too.
Oh wow! Brilliant grandma.
Reading the comments here. In in zone 6b. The seeds I saved from bell peppers all past the test. Germinated between paper towels then into plastic bag. Saved purple basil too need the test.
Doing baby steps learning. Afraid of failure
Great teacher and so encouraging. Don't even want to say the $$'s we spent a few weeks ago for seeds. Yes it is worth it to try others.
Go you!!
Up until the year 2021, packet brassica seeds tended to contain hundreds of seeds. Fast track 2022, seed packets contain around 10-40 seeds for double the price!
Glad I saved seeds years ago. A pain, but well worth it for germination and resilience!
No kidding! My husband prides himself on finding cheap seed packets - seed packets containing 4 (count ‘em: 4) seeds!?!?
Thank you, perfect timing, I was just today saying to my husband maybe we should stop saving seed because it takes up so much space our high tunnels feel overwhelming (even though I never feel good pulling plants before they've had a change to make seed), so it was really good to see your germination comparison, and your more organized way of growing out for seed
Good to hear Sasha!
Thanks for sharing your energy and thoughts with us all 🥕🥕🪴🙏🙏🍷🍆
Love your seed storage shelf. By month, brilliant!!
I love these videos! Thankyou for sharing your wealth of knowledge. I'd never thought of the space dedication required for some seed saving
I'm so grateful that you've shared how many plants you need for genetic diversity in saving seeds, as I plan to save seeds next year from some of the more difficult veggies you mentioned: onions, beets and carrots. It can be frustrating to sow store bought seeds and end up with really poor germination. I sowed 300 onion seeds (packed for 2024) hoping for 240 plants, but ended up with 180. I ended up having to order a bundle of 60 plants, because it's now too late in the season to start more onion seeds. All of my onions are open-pollinated though, so I'm definitely going to try and save seeds next year, to be sown in 2026.
I hope that goes well for you. Yes onion seeds do not store well! It is so frustrating.
Generous and insightful ❤️💚💕. Always a pleasure to while away a bit of time here.
I thank you for explaining about why a large number is needed for strong seeds. You explained it well. Please keep these very informative videos coming. Thank you very much
Thanks so much for the details and making me aware of cross pollination and hybrid plants. I like the details around seed saving and keeping them to dry before storage.
Thank you! This is a lot more complicated than I thought, lots to learn.
It's good to know before you commit!
Thanks for all your great videos, Charles! Hello from central North Carolina
Cheers Jamie 💚
Thank you for the tips, Charles.🇺🇸
Hi Charles, This is the video I’ve been waiting for. Thanks, hey I bought one of your calendars for this year back in January and let me tell you when I got to July I was amazed at how beautiful your garden is from July’s picture. God bless y’all. (Old guy from Arkansas)🇺🇸
Awesome, thank you old guy, from another old guy!
Thanks. Possibly the best straight forward explanation of hybrid tomato seed saving results on yt.
🍅 thanks
Seed saving is so interesting. Please do more videos on this topic
Your garden and property is absolutely stunning, I've been learning so much from you, thank you Charles.
You are very welcome Steve, thanks for saying
Another super video Charles. There are a lot of grateful people like myself who appreciate the time, effort and thoughtfulness you put into each video. The step-by-step and also showing us the end result. I can’t wait to adopt all these exciting ideas. This will be the first time I will be saving seeds, and like someone said, it will be good to share the seeds as well.
Great and thanks
Very interesting video! Thank you Mr. Charles
Nice uncle Charles. Respect from Africa 🇿🇦
Seed saving is a rewarding & beneficial part of gardening. Excellent video this one--bravo Mr D!
Thanks Pam
Such an informative video, it's so kind of you to share your knowledge. Great watching your videos always so inspiring. Love Homeacres, such a beautiful and tranquil place.❤
Thanks 💚
Charles,
Just wanted to say thanks for creating such amazing videos. Your videos helped me find my passion! You are an incredible gardener and teacher.
Best,
Aneeqa
My pleasure Aneequa and thanks for saying
Wonderful information as usual Charles. Thank you. Following you from New Zealand.
Awesome, thank you!
The butterflies enjoying your plants
One excellent way to remove seeds from the plant is to put the dried plants in a burlap sack or pillow case and use a length of heavy rubber hose to beat the seeds loose. Works great for things like beans. Most of the seeds will pile up in the corner of the bag. A box fan can help separate the plant matter from the seeds.
Great tip thanks
I always try to save my seed and make my own compost. It all adds to being as self sufficient as possible and I get a great deal of satisfaction from it. Enjoyed the video as always Charles!
Good stuff Jenny
Thank you for the encouragement.
Interesting to learn more about cross pollinating plants and how that works.
I started saving seeds last year and this year I am so impressed that those plants from home saved seed grew faster/stronger than store bought.
Your green thumb helped Charlie 🌱
Your videos are of the best most informational thank you for sharing.
You are so welcome, thanks
I just love What you have done
Form Thailand
So kind thanks
Brilliant brilliant video, you are so kind sharing your hard work. This video is a very important part of our next generation of sowers and growers. I am sure a selective seed bank is very important to our future, especially the non evasive way you are doing it. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it Tee 💚
Thank you. This was all very good information!!!!
Only gardening channel worthwhile...reminds me of my childhood watching PBS broadcasting shows with real Experts, just like Charles D.
Ah thanks 🌱
Great tutorial! Thank you. I had no idea that brassicas and onions required more than one plant for good results! Your videos are always so enlightening.
You are so welcome!
Thank you for sharing this info. I am interested in saving seed from my beets, chard and kohlrabi. For a few years now, I have been saving what you call the easy ones. I was planning on pulling the kohlrabi and beets here soon to put in zucchini. Now I have a better idea of how to go about it.
Thanks for the great video! I love to learn. Thanks for breaking it down. There is always uncertainty when collecting seed, how many plants are needed.
Really interesting. It takes a lot of thought and space, basically. Just done RHS 2 and my lecturer nearly had an aneurysm when I told her I'd grown all my spuds from leftover shop-bought. They came up lovely though.
Well done you!!
I had a potato plant that produced 5 or 6 seed pods!!! Never knew they did that. Only 2nd year growing them
@@bettyperrin4251 Same. You can see why tomatoes and spuds are in the same family, can't you. The pods looks like mini toms. I've saved some seed from them going to try it next season.
Thank you so much! It was even timely with a homework assessment I have to do......:) I study to become a Market Gardener. You inspire me very much to beome a better gardener.
Thanks Asa, glad it was helpful!
You are such a delight to watch. You are always working so hard to give us all such good gardening information.. I know you work hard to get all these videos out to us. Just know we appreciate you very much. God is Good Northeast Arkansas USA
Thank you so much Jenny. Yes this one particular was a lot of work and even then we made a bad mistake with the wrong name for salad rocket! I've put a correction in the video description.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig I believe you are forgiven. Lol
I could supply the local council with enough marigold seed from just one plant! It's totally amazing how many seeds you get from one single plant in the autumn. It's about the easiest flower seeds to make that I've tried. Made some wild lupin seeds last year and will try germinating them this month - they are perennial plants but a few die off each year with droughts, I find. Cobra French beans and Cupidon dwarf beans are two I've saved for several years with very consistent results - the Cupidons in particular are usually totally dry by late August and you only need just over 1sqm to get 8 plants and masses and masses of seeds....
Yes Cupidon is good for me too, best here in the tunnel. Nice thought Rhys, all the marigolds :)
Great video. I enjoy saving seeds too. 🤗
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your knowledge, I don’t know how you find the time but I’m very grateful.
My beetroot has grown to about 4 foot tall (full of tiny flowers)& this video has come in the nick of time as I wasn’t too sure what to do next.
Before I crawl into bed, I’d best go out on slug patrol - been throwing (launching them actually) into the hedgerows across the road. If they make it back alive, they deserve a few nibbles on my crops 😋
Thanks again for sharing your precious knowledge & time.
Good to hear Jane!
Hi 👋 Natalie Bennett sent me and I have been really wanting to save seeds! So this is good timing!
Welcome Natalie!!
I started saving seeds last year and find it so rewarding. I have a carrot that over wintered and had gone to flower, but only one, as disappointed as I am to learn I need many to cross pollinate I am thankful that I will not take up space in the future with less then ideal seeds in my small space 🙏 I'll just continue to enjoy the flower 😊
Best of luck!!
Something to aspire too. I intend to start with tomatoes this year that would be so cool. Thank you
Glad to see that you are into seed saving! That's a topic I'm really interested in and find very challenging. But for sure I will dive into when I have more time and knowledge from you and other sources. Correct me if I'm wrong but (according to the answer you gave me on one of your courses some years back) you were in favour of F1 hybrids to get consistent results and (it seems to me) not so much now. Maybe you could make a video about F1 hybrids, gene pools, open pollinated seeds and all that gritty nitty? That would be fav! Keep it up!
Nice to hear. Sometimes they have a place, mainly when seed companies have neglected to maintain older varieties, as with most Brussels spouse.
Mostly I grow open pollinated plants.
Yes a good idea.
So fascinating!
I am also quite keen on seed saving. Everywhere I go I find a flower or something to grab some seeds from.(Within the country I mean)
I also grow a different squash every year so I can save great seeds without cross pollination issues. I still remember the year the zucchinis crossed with the spaghetti squash!
I have success with chili peppers too , even the F1s.
I am always amazed at the size of my seeds and how quickly they germinate.
I do find tomatoes quite easy to save seed from. I just separate the seeds and mix them with some well water. I put them aside on the kitchen counter for a couple days to ferment, then I drain them and spread them out on a paper towel/napkin to dry out. I write the name right there on the napkin as they are drying. Then once dry, I put them in a little brown envelope and label it with the type and year it was saved.
I think I have been able to save almost everything I grow now.
I have been experimenting with Brassicas lately. The first experiment was buying some Gailan from the grocery store, sticking it in a container of water, letting it root and then planting it outside. I have been growing it every spring and fall ever since.
You are a natural Angela!
Hi I crossed zucchini with spaghetti squash on purpose this year to see what would happen because spaghetti squash grows exceptionally well for me and produces I'd guess 5x more than zucchini. I'd like to hear what your cross produced
@@tinnerste2507 It was many years ago but I remember there was variation. I do remember that more often than not the spaghetti squash didn't really have a lot of "spaghetti". The flavors were also off so I have made sure to not do it again.
@@angelad.8944 thanks for answering! That's a shame as the spaghetti squash doesn't have a great flavour but it sure produces well. I saved the seeds from both plants but was going to mostly grow seeds from the zucchini fruit. Maybe I won't grow out as many plants as I planned to.
Very interesting. Thank you!
It's only in the last 5 years or so that I realised that bought seed cannot be totally relied on to continue to be what you expected... my learning experience is the Black Russian tomato... It's not what it used to be...
Seed saving is inconvenient with garden space and a lot of work but I greatly appreciate the feelings of satisfaction when they pop up happy and thriving in a seed tray.
Because of floods here in Australia we have a shortage of lettuce (KFC is substituting cabbage in their burgers (!)) And I have about a kilo of lettuce seeds saved last Autumn.... yep... sitting on a gold mine!!!! 😀
Thanks for more great info Charles!
Hi Rose, thanks and this is interesting about Black Russian because I had noticed the same, even for some reason with my own saved seed.
I don't like the sound of your weather! Great that you saved seeds anyway.
Que adorable video, como siempre muy agradecida por tu enseñanza y las semillas me encantó esta lección tengo algunas semillas de mi pequeño jardín y otras que compre orgánicas, pero un poco triste estoy un poco delicada de salud y el frío que hace aquí es muy horrible muchas heladas 4 bajo cero y 11 como máxima, tendré que tener paciencia, gracias querido Charles por tu lindo video 🇨🇱🇨🇱🌷🌷🤗
¡Han arreglado el clima! Espero que te sientas primaveral pronto, gracias
Hi Charles, found your video on collecting and drying ones own seed. Facinating. something I will be doing again this year. I wanted to save seeds in preperation for starting my first allotment.
I kept seeds from a bell pepper we had enjoyed for supper. Kept the seeds for a couple of weeks on a tray to dry out. Then stored in used/clean yogurt pot covered with clingfilm in the back of the refrigerator until January. Then I removed from the refrigerator and started to sow these seeds by the end of Feb & end March, I managed two sowings 4 weeks apart. The result, I could have sold small pepper plants to our local plant nursery, I had that many. I'm getting what looks like a prolific volume of fruit from the plants.
My first attempt of saving seeds seemed to be going to supply us for many months as I will freeze what we dont use or I dont give away. I felt so proud I'd done it... your video has given me the courage to try some other simple seed collections for next spring. Thank you for all your advice to novices like myself. x
How impressive Kim, thanks for sharing 🌱
Very nice, Charles!
Thank you for showing!
Last year I saved seed from french beans, white stemmed chard, leaks, wild rocket, herbs like parsley and some flowers wich are easier to save than most of vegetables.
A lovely mix Dara, and yes flowers are easier :
@@CharlesDowding1nodig 😊thank you! It‘s a little bit of work but also real fun!
I let almost every kind of plant I planted to flower. It looks very nice. This year I have chard flowering. I hope I will save some seeds from it. I really like having so much seeds that I can just go around my garden and throw them randomly on my beds to let my garden faries do their magic. :) I did such thing this year with homesaved flowers and seeds I found in the kitchen (caraway, dill ect) and the result is just a-ma-zing! I love this kind of interplanting. I've got caraway growing everywhere and beautiful flowers in every colour popping up in between my crops. There's even one flower which overgrown my little cherry tree lol. It's also fun to explore and guess what plant is growing.
💚 that sounds fun!
Thank you for explaining so fully,,,,,
Thanks for this video. I am saving scorzonera seeds , the flower seed head is gorgeous… a very fluffy dandelion . I save seeds from French lettuces Lilloise , Palatine and Lednicky . Thanks
Sounds good Sandrine!
Hi Charles. Thanks for such an excellent video. I save French bean seed (Cobra) but as I live in a warm climate I have learnt that flea beetle can be a real problem with storage of all the pea and bean family, so I put into the jar, alongside the beans, dried pennyroyal. Other strong herbs will also work but pennyroyal seems to be the best for me. It grows wild here in S. Portugal so it's just a matter of going out and cutting some flowers to dry.
That is an excellent tip and thanks, you're so right the storage is a whole 'nother story!
In Germany we partially struggle with pea and bean beetles.
After having the seed maximum dry, you can put it into the refrigerator for a week to let die off the beetle eggs (and maybe maggots).
After that you don‘t worry about them any more.
Even with bought seed you sometimes get them in🙈
I do so every year even if I don‘t see any infestation and it works well.
After my husband passed in January '20 I went into his greenhouse and tried to continue growing tomatoes like he did. Its been great therapy for me i really appreciate your tips. My daughter, granddaughter and I love the tasty tomatoes. Id like to grow more veg. We dont have anyone to ask for advice so we're learning by watching your videos. Im going to build a compost heap but I struggle a bit with some of the physical work. We also now keep hens on our little farm but Im not sure if the hen manure is always suitable. I need to do more research.
Hen manure is very good mixed in with the other composting items like food scraps, grass, twigs, dry leaves etc. When you clean out the chicken coop, dump all the soiled wood shavings and manure into the compost. It enriches the compost. The physical work will make you stronger. I was a city person and never did much gardening, but now I love it, and all that physical work is paying off in terms of health and enjoyment. Charles’ videos are great for beginners and seasoned gardeners. Good luck with it all.
Great to hear! Yes it's excellent in your compost heap, glad you like the gardening
Thamk you, Charles!
I intend to do some of this. Thank you.
Great video! I was amazed to see the beets at seed stage! I had no idea. Fascinating! I've just gotten back to gardening in earnest last year and saved seed from a few things - Chinese red noodle beans being one of them. Those beans are so fun to grow and so tasty! I also had lots of different greens self sow in my raised beds this year which gave me a surprise early and delicious harvest! Some even overwintered as we had a milder than usual winter this year. Love your channel!
Thanks Michelle, nice to hear that
Thank You , I learned so much 😆
Very interesting video thanksxx
Another great video well explain very very enjoyable Merci 👌
Hello joys
Thank you and bless you for this
Hi Charles I sown tomato seed from some toms my youngest son liked & I found it was f1 & they got smaller & didn’t taste very nice so I’ve thrown the seeds found out the hard way ! Iam going to have a go at doing my own potatoes didn’t know you could save your potatoes! Yes I’m growing onions letting them go to seed ! Very interesting video thank you lv Irene 😘 xx
Thanks for sharing your experience Irene, best of luck
I've been using one of those little pop up plastic greenhouses to help keep seedheads dry when saving seed. Which seems to help
Neat!
Interesante video, como siempre!
Yo guardo los cogollos de semilla para secarlas en sacos o bolsas de papel y las cuelgo en el invernadero durante el verano y otoño. Una vez secas, las aplasto dentro de la misma bolsa y luego las limpio soplándola o al viento suave. Así no pierdo semillas al colgarlas que pudiesen caer. Sobretodo con las hojas orientales.
Hola Juan, ese es un método encantador!
I want more videos in the conservatory, it's precious!!
And I've only ever saved seeds once from a waltham 29 broccoli I let go at the end of the season last year, but this year I'm saving kale, a few varieties of lettuce, three or four kinds of peas, and whatever all else I have the space for.
Well done! 💚
me encanto!!!!! gracias Charles
💚
thinking of the our planet future ...f1 seeds always SCARE me so much, it's okay to grow couple of them for fun,experiments and variety but is good to do it wisely!! .Just hoping they will not displace heirloom seeds ever!
Thanks Gertrude, and I wish you success in your mission! Everybody actually needs to wake up a bit to things going on around them. We need to ask a lot of questions!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig That last one so true 💚! I am an art painter and one of the main thing in process of painting is asking my self questions, observe , ask, adjust.Every colour patch is a result of questions and answers............... More questions ...one day more answers and I can see how I improved
Love love love ❤
you are doing great work...
Thanks
Thank you so much for this Charles Dowding! I have found buying any veggie seeds/seedling from bunnings here in Australia is a sure recipe to have bolted plants and no food. (they carry product from a variety of seed corporations) I was ill for a bit so was late planting out one year and grabbed some seedlings which bolted within the first month of planting out. Worst mistake ever. I had no idea why until I watched this.
Also, I tried to get your new seed trays here but sadly, the shipment was cancelled.
That sounds like you need to save your own seed! And yes what a pity about the trays, it was too expensive to ship them
i love saving seed
Great to hear Steven
This was a great video. I hoped you would have said something about how long you can store Tomato seeds. I had an old Tomato seed packet (of Ailsa Craig) laying around, packed in 2015 with a sow by date of 2018. I took a chance and planted them this year (2022) and they have been growing just fine.
I have also been experimenting with saving/growing seeds from shop brought vegetables. Last year I brought some spring onions, planted them in the garden, and used them for their shoots. They started flowering this spring, so I took some seeds from one flower and 50+ germinated! Since they were shop brought I was worried about them not being true to the original, but they seem to be regular spring onions so far. Their multiplication factor is surprising, at this rate I'll never have to buy onions again!
I am very impressed by your spring onions Steven! And yes, tomato seeds do last a long time.
I'm saving seeds from early broad beans (Aquadulce Claudia) lettuce (Grenoble red), early peas(Douce Provence) & charlotte potatoes(as in the tubers) this year .
The garlic I've grown this year is from sprouted supermarket cloves & I've no idea how to differentiate between hard & soft neck.
French beans this year are from last year's home saved seeds, so it'll be interesting to see how they do.
I happily buy Sungold seed, as the tomatoes are just so good compared to shop bought.
Thanks for sharing!
Saving seed is definitely something I need to do more of. A lot of seed that I bought last year was diabolical. The germination rate was very poor. I thought I was doing something wrong until I spoke to many other gardeners. They had similar issues. But I also wondered if the compost was also a contributing factor. It was very inconsistent throughout. I bought a few different types.
I'm sorry to hear that Helen, and it's a double whammy! Two potential and common problems, such that one can't tell which is the actual problem! Or both!! So yes, saving seed is worthwhile
Last comment, promise! It does make me smile when gardener youtubers proclaim the virtues of photograph boxes converted into seed storage organizers whilst advising how to save one’s own seed!!!
My seed storage area is full of dried beans, dried peas, beet seeds, brassica seeds, tomato seeds, melon seeds and pepper seeds. It’s a shelf full of old jam jars and butter boxes! 😂
Love this Amanda!
I saved seed from the hybrid tomato variety " Big Mamma" , an amazing paste tomato introduced to me by a friend few years ago. She actually gave me a flat of them, longer story. I was so enamored with this variety that I saved seed from them anyways, and they were the only tomato variety I had in that garden/area, so it worked out ( another story). So, next year I planted those seeds there, and out of the aprox. doz plants I had, only a few of the plants had different fruits. Most were same or close to it, as the original. Among the others I had 3 which were long and skinny, but otherwise ok, most anyways. A couple other plants had little, slicer-tomato shaped ones, but most of which were hard/woody ( strange & unusable for the most part) tomatoes, so, I finally just ripped those out. I saved seed again, trying to be sure I saved from at least a few different plants and some from early in the season but most were from later when, due to some other factors it was easier for me to let them ripen on the plant more thoroughly, while yet getting to them b4 they rotted and/or got eaten up by critters. I wasn't able to plant any last year due to moving, so, this is the year, God willing, to plant and harvest from my 2nd generation since the hybrid ! Can hardly wait for that and the Petit Gris de la Rennes cantaloupe seeds I just ordered... !!! I did save seed last year from my amazing cantaloupe harvest of Minnesota Midget ( I am in nw Wisconsin, an hour straight east from MN Capital, so, plenty short-ish season usually ! ) and Hale's best, which I don't recall much about & had just grabbed when seeing what was left at a nearby nursery after moving and getting new, no-till garden started ! The MMs I had planted from seed I'd had on hand, a few things had survived my seed start plant stand falling over in a jumble from high winds just b4 moving... had forgotten to get it staked well ).
That's nice, you are on quite a journey with the seed saving and that's how it should be! Thanks for sharing about your melons as well, it's interesting that you come from the region with MM originates. I prefer it to PGR, partly because it grows more fruit!
I would find cross pollinating as a cool new crop. Surprise garden!
I loved this. Congratulations on getting beetroot and carrot seeds to breed true! I've had that disaster with carrots and the wild varieties. That was so disappointing. I was so proud of myself, and then when I planted the next year, I got these sad little white roots! I've had beets and chard and spinach all cross pollinate. I don't mind that with the chard, but I wasn't happy with the beets. I was wondering if you isolate your squashes and cucumbers in order to save seed. Great video!
Thanks Vicki, maybe I was lucky... and I have not attempted squash yet!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Well, you're so skilled, I doubt it was just luck.
Как просто и хорошо организована библиотека семян.👌
Thank you Charles again for your videos. I have some leeks that have bolted this year so will experiment on the seeds.
Can I just say that I loved to see your re-use of various plastic boxes for seed storage. It just shows your authenticity and the no-fluff approach to gardening. I do the same; any plastic tray is good for putting under the seedlings pots (some of these are reused shop bought plastic containers), any glass jar is fine for seeds and other storages/kefir milk/sourdough starter etc..
Haha thanks Laura 😀 and that sounds good!
Ooo I thought it was simple. I think I need a course on it Charles xx
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Lovely jubilee 😊🙏❤️x