[casper]

Hi, Is there any vegetables I purchase in the supermarket with seeds that can be used for next year. Today I washed and dried some butternut squash seeds. Is there any others. I have read about tomato seeds and pepper seeds. Is there any rules about shop bought vegetables and there seeds??? thanks for any help 

[arugula]

Tomatoes, peppers, chillis, peas and beans are all good things to try.

One thing to bear in mind though, as you more often than not will not know the variety of the supermarket stock, you may not end up with progeny exactly as you expected or hoped for.

We once grew chillis from saved seeds which turned out to be an F1 variety and the resulting fruits the following year were like Russian roulette.  

[Daamoot]

Keep an eye on where the vegetable was grown.  I had some trouble growing store bought garlic until I read it could be because it was intended to be grown in a hotter climate.  So I tried growing some I bought from a local organic farm and they grew very well.

I'm not sure about vegetables but I have read that growing from shop bought fruit seeds is usually a gamble too because you don't know what it's been pollinated with.  Hopefully some more knowledgeable forum member than I can expand on these... :happy:

[dmg]

I grew some from  a long sweet pepper this year. It must have been an F1 as the growth wasn't very uniform and the fruits were misshaped.

[casper]

Oh thank you, I just had the thought when I was scraping out my butternut squash and thought the seeds seemed nice and it made me consider other things thanks 

[gavinjconway]

Casper - you will find the butternuts are probably from Spain so you would be better off buying a locally cultivar as the Spanish or other "hot" climate veg will not be viable here... especially if next year is the same as this summer has been!!

[Mrs Bee]

I tried growing butternut squash from supermarket seeds a few years ago. They grew  very big and impressive looking, but were tasteless and didn't have the sweetness.

They ones I grew from bought seed the next year, were smaller but a much better flavour.

The tiny pea sized supermarket tomatoe seeds I saved do very well year after year tho.

[casper]

thanks never thought about that 

[Trillium]

Definitely get seeds from a local organic farm marketer. Not only are they grown in local weather and soils, which are good for your own crops, but organic gardeners tend to avoid hybrid veg where possible and stick with heirloom varieties that you can save seeds from. You can always ask if any veg is a hybrid and they'll tell you.

Anything is a gamble from cross-pollination, even your own crops, but you usually do alright in the end for saving seeds.

[Madame Cholet]

www.realseeds.co.uk are very good with seed saving advise, but I would buy my seed for the first season and save the following year, lots of massed poduced veg are grow for mass production not home scale.

[DD.]

You'll find some far more detailed information on seed saving, including cultivation prior to doing so, here:

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/members/seed_saving/index.php

[casper]

Thanks 

[gavinjconway]

You'll find some far more detailed information on seed saving, including cultivation prior to doing so, here:

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/members/seed_saving/index.php

Thanks for that link DD - very helpful

[azubah]

My tomatoes, grown from seed from supermarket tomatoes, have done very well this year. In fact there are so many that they are falling on the floor as I can't pick them fast enough.

[DD.]

On the other hand, you could have done that badly, you'd be complaining.

You cannot guarantee anything with growing on anything from an uncertified source.

The risk is yours, never mine.