Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: dig4victory on August 25, 2010, 12:08
-
Normally we waste money on buying new seed every year instead of keeping and using our own but are determined to have a go this year.
We don't know how to store and keep them effectively to give them the best chance to keep and grow well next year.
This is what we are growing: if anyone has any tips for keeping and storing etc for future use please help!! - or even info whether if it is worth keeping the seeds from certain crops...
squashes
courgette
cukes
toms
chillis
sunflowers
peppers
sweetcorn
Many thanks for any suggestions. ;)
-
Any of those I would simply store in their packets in a cool DRY place.
If the packets have got damp at some point, such as when you were sowing or in a potting shed, they are probably not going to be any good, but otherwise most seeds last for years. The famous exception are parsnips.
There are fancier ways of storing seeds, but I have never found it worthwhile for vegs.
Gillie
-
you can store them and use them next year but unfortunately you cannot reuse veg seeds :lol:......sorry....I thought it was funny ::)
I keep all my seeds in a large Tupperware-type container and keep it in the house.
They should'nt be kept anywhere too hot or in damp conditions, so the shed is not ideal.
-
did you mean to collect seed from this years crop and use them??
-
If you mean seed saving; then you can't just collect some, you need to have isolated them first or they will already have crossed.
squashes
courgette
cukes
peppers
chillis
Need isolating, if you want to save seed that will grow true. They would have needed isolating before the flower opens; so a bit late this year. You might get away with it with sweet peppers, but chilis and any cucurbits - definitely not. Real Seeds have a good website and detailed instructions on how to isolate plants and hand pollination.
toms
sunflowers
Can be saved; google 'seed saving tomato seeds' and it will explain how to ferment them for 3 days and how to dry and store. If the original tomato was an F1 hybrid then you won't get a tomato next year that is the same as this years, you will get either of the parents of the tomato.
Sunflowers; pick the heads as the seeds fatten up, as fat as you can possibly get them and take them somewhere dry to continue drying off, then pick the seeds out, and store them in a paper bag somewhere cool and dry until next year. Unfortunately, this weather is not good as sunflowers need dryish summers or they quickly go mouldy.....
sweetcorn
is a different beast. Most sweetcorns are F1 s so the seed won't come true. If you have an original open pollinated corn, then you can just leave the cobs on the plant to dry off and save as for sunflower - but this is one plant where unless you get the true seed to start off with, there's very little point.
If you are really interested in getting involved, and getting open pollinated or heritage seed to start seed saving properly; you could join HSL, the Heritage Seed Library. But once you get into it, you can be hooked http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/hsl/index.php
However I don't buy any seed for myself now, I save my own and swap to extend the varieties. I had enough this year to sow for my garden, my lottie, and 5 schools; as well as giving tons of plants away free. I spend my cash now on seed compost to grow them all in!
-
did you mean to collect seed from this years crop and use them??
yes, sorry, I did mean this.
thanks for all your help everyone.
thanks for the info and link zazen999.
:)
-
I stumbled across a fantastic website this summer which gives instructions for saving seeds for most veggies:
http://www.realseeds.co.uk (http://www.realseeds.co.uk)
They have some fantastic rare veggies on there and lots of helpful tips!!
-
Thought that what you meant dig4, but zazen and lottie seem to have given you good info. now and saved me loads of typing :D
-
I stumbled across a fantastic website this summer which gives instructions for saving seeds for most veggies:
http://www.realseeds.co.uk (http://www.realseeds.co.uk)
They have some fantastic rare veggies on there and lots of helpful tips!!
Excellent Lottie Mary........ that'll save some searching for - very useful. :)