Saving Seeds

If you have a unique heirloom variety plant that you want to preserve or if you don’t want to buy new seeds every year, you can save seeds from your healthy plants. Saving seeds is relatively easy for dry plants, like beans, where the seeds are easily distinguishable from the vegetable or fruit. In these cases, simply scrape the seeds from the vegetable, place them in a single layer in a glass dish, and leave them near a sunny window to dry for one week.

For some plants, like tomatoes, the seeds are surrounded by a wet pulp. For these plants, remove the seeds from the flesh of the fruit or vegetable with your fingers and then rinse thoroughly in a wire mesh strainer. You may need to soak them for a while to remove all residue. Then dry as described above.

Once seeds are thoroughly dried, store them in labeled envelopes in a cool, dry place.

Keep in mind that plants often naturally cross-pollinate, especially when different types of plants are near each other in a garden, resulting in a hybrid seed. Hybrid seeds are unpredictable and often grow into inferior plants. Also, most seeds that you buy today are already hybrids. If you plan to save your seeds, invest in heirloom variety or openpollinated seeds.

Hybrid vs. Heirloom Seeds

Plants are like any other living thing in that there are male and female parts and it takes both to create offspring. Some plants contain both the male and female parts within their own flowers (self-pollinators), and others have separate male plants and female plants. With the latter type, bees or birds carry the pollen from male plants to the ovule of female plants. Thus, plants can be bred to have certain characteristics and qualities by ensuring that the desired male and female plants are in close proximity and that undesirable potential “parents” are kept at a distance. Nowadays, seeds can also be artificially crossbred and genetically altered.

Seed manufacturers frequently breed seeds to be high yield, often at the expense of disease resistance, since the majority of plants now are grown with pesticides anyway. These hybrid seeds are high-maintenance; they require special fertilizers, they’re less hardy, and they are more susceptible to disease. However, with the right supports (pesticides, herbicides, and irrigation) they will produce a greater volume of plants. Other seeds are bred for other characteristics, such as size of the fruit or vegetable.

There are several concerns regarding the popularity of hybrid seeds. One is that it creates too much dependence on the major seed producers, as well as suppliers of pesticides and other inorganic gardening products. Since hybrid plants do not produce reliable seeds, farmers must return to the seed supplier every year before they begin planting and then often depend on pesticides to keep their plants healthy. This is an especially serious issue in poorer countries where the people are at the mercy of major seed supply companies.

Heirloom varieties are much more diverse than hybrids. Not only does this mean that by using them you’ll be harvesting more interesting (and often more flavorful) produce, but you’ll also be helping to prevent a potential food shortage disaster. Because major seed suppliers are breeding seeds for specific purposes, they’re narrowing down the varieties of seeds they provide to only those that best meet their needs. This will become a major problem if a disease attacks those plants. If there are many varieties, some will resist the disease. If there are only a few varieties available, they might all be wiped out, as happened with the Irish potato famine of the 1840s.

Heirloom tomatoes are often unusual shapes and colors. They can be as beautiful as they are delicious.

Close-up of an ear of heirloom corn.

Heirloom seeds are generally more expensive than hybrids, but you only have to buy them once, since you can save their seeds at the end of every growing season to plant the following spring. Thus, it makes sense to incorporate as many heirloom varieties into your garden as you can.