As the gardening season ends, whether spring, summer, or fall, you may notice that your vegetables or flowers are shooting seeds at the end of their life cycle for the season.

Don't discard them! If they were healthy plants from heirloom or self-pollinating varieties (more on this later), you can save the seeds and replant them for the next season.

Saving seeds is a great way to build up a good seed bank for yourself, maintain healthy varieties adapted to your area, and be cost-effective.

It is a simple process and very rewarding once you see the seeds you have saved germinate and sprout next year! Down below more on how to save, dry, and store seeds!

Which Garden Seeds To Save

Before you get too excited and want to save all the seeds, unfortunately, it is not always possible to save all your garden seeds. Here are a few pointers:

You want the seed strain to be pure so that it will have exactly the same characteristics next season. In gardening terminology, we call this true-to-seed or true-to-type. And this is only possible with self-pollinating and open-pollinated plants.
Self-pollinating plants do not rely on other species to pollinate, and their seeds require little effort to save and store. Their seeds will also have the same characteristics as the parent plant. Tomatoes, pepper, beans, and peas are self-pollinating.
Open-pollinated plants are fertilized by insects, the wind, and rain, and the seeds will produce the same plant the following year. Some open-pollinated plants are self-pollinators.
You also get heirloom seeds which are seeds that have been saved and passed on for generations. All heirlooms are open-pollinated, but not all open-pollinated plants are heirlooms necessarily.
The seeds from cross-pollinating plants that need male and female flowers should not be saved. You may have a completely different plant or inferior taste next season. Unless you want to experiment with new varieties ;-)
Only save seeds from healthy plants that did very well during the season. Those that produced the best-tasting fruit.
Start with easy beginner crops such as peppers, tomatoes, peas, beans, and lettuce.

How To Harvest Seeds For Saving

Plants will only set seeds at the end of their life cycle, and they should also be fully ripe to be viable for saving. If you harvest the seeds too soon, the seed will not be mature enough and won't germinate for the next season.

For this reason, you will have to keep one or two plants separate that you will solely use for seed harvesting. Vegetables like eggplant, cucumber, and lettuce will become shriveled, yellow, and almost rotten before their seeds are ready.

Tomato and cucumber seeds:

Tomatoes and cucumbers have wet seeds that need to be fermented to eliminate the gel residue. Allow your tomatoes and cucumbers to ripen fully, and then scoop out the seeds with the gel.

Add the seeds with the gel to a glass jar filled with water and place it in a warm room. Stir the mixture twice daily; after 5 days, the seeds should sink to the bottom. Drain the water, catch the seeds, rinse them properly, and spread them out on paper towels or a plastic tray to dry.

Peppers seeds:

Allow a few peppers to ripen fully on the plant until they start to wrinkle. Cut the peppers open and remove the seeds from the stem. Spread them on a tray to dry.

Peas and bean seeds:

Peas and beans with pods should ripen on the plant until they are dried out and brown. You will hear the seeds rattle on the inside. It could take up to a month, so be patient.

Pick the pods from plants and spread them out to dry further. Shell them after two weeks or keep the seeds in the pods until planting.

Lettuce seeds:

To harvest seeds from lettuce, you must wait for it to send up its flower stalks, producing tiny seed pods. By this time, the lettuce will be yellow and shriveled.

Let the pods dry on the plant and check them daily when they are ready to be picked. Radishes and other Asian greens will work the same.

Squash and pumpkin seeds:

When your squash or pumpkin is ripe, break it open and remove the seeds. There will be stringy material and membrane attached, so rinse the seeds properly underwater. Lay the seeds on a tray to dry.

Watermelon and Melon seeds:

Once again, harvest the seeds only when the fruit is ripe. Break open your melon, remove the seeds, rinse them to wash off all the pulp, and spread them out on a tray to dry. Turn them regularly until they are dry.

Harvesting zinnia seeds and other flowers:

The seeds from many annual flowers, including zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, petunias, marigolds, impatiens, cleome, snapdragons, nigella, and calendula, can be harvested.

You can harvest most of these flowers' seeds about a month after their blossoms fade, and the seed heads turn brown. Clean the seeds from any husks or pods and remove as much debris from the seeds as you can. Let them dry on a tray for about a week.

Garden Seeds Storage Tips

Make sure they are adequately dry

The most crucial thing about storing seeds is ensuring they are adequately dried. For some seeds, you may have to leave them out to dry for up to a month. Left-over moisture on the seeds is sure to lead to mold growth and rot, making them unviable.

If you had rain before harvesting the seeds, rather wait a few days for the seeds to dry on the plant.

Dry your seeds on a tray, wax paper, or towel paper in a sunny room, non-humid greenhouse, or in the direct sun outside. Remember to bring them inside.

Turn your seeds several times during the drying period.

Seeds should be stored in a cool, dry, dark place

A dark closet, pantry (away from heat sources), or basement will work perfectly. The ideal temperature is 32 to 41 F degrees.

Store the seeds in airtight containers

Glass jars ( I am a big fan of Ball® home jars!) or paper packets stored in plastic containers. Add silica-gel desiccant to the containers to absorb moisture and keep the seeds dry.

Here are fun printable seed paper bags just for you!

Label your seeds

Come next year, you may have forgotten what is what and how old the seeds are. Label your seeds with the crop type, variety, date harvested, and other notes.

Saving times according to different crops

Corn, spinach, chives, and alliums have the shortest seed storage life as they have a higher oil content. Use them within a year.

Onion, leek, beans, peppers, and swiss chard seeds should be replaced every two years.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, melons, Asian greens, and squash seeds can stay good for up to three years.

Radish, broccoli, cauliflowers, cabbage, Brussel sprout, and kale seeds can last 4-5 years.

Annual flower seeds will be viable for 1-3 years, while perennials can last 2-4 years.

These time frames are estimates and depend a lot on the storage conditions. Raised bumps, a furry coating, tiny hairs, or raised speckles are signs that seeds have gone bad.

Here’s to seed saving and we all building up incredible seed banks! Remember it is trial and error for everyone, and the more you try, the more you will figure out what works and what does not. You have nothing to lose :-)

Love, Annette

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