[LotuSeed]

For those that save their own seed to use year after year, how do you go about growing so that that the seed you save isn't cross pollinated with another variety?  I've been reading some of the suggestions on spacing and am wondering if others follow the recommendations stringently or not at all.

[surbie100]

What are you planning on saving? *noseyface*

There's a fair bit of information on this thread, http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=118458.0, with tips for specific plant families and the Garden Organic pdf also goes into a bit of detail on the numbers of plants to grow to maintain plant vigour as well as true seed. Some of that isn't attainable for home growers though.

I am quite keen on seed saving...

[Kristen]

how do you go about growing so that that the seed you save isn't cross pollinated with another variety?

Some things are a lot more promiscuous than others - Squash for example.

Real Seeds has some really good info on self-saving seed:
http://www.realseeds.co.uk/
(Selected the vegetable you are interested in and the seed-saving info, if available, will be at the bottom of the page)

[snowdrops]

I am quite keen on seed saving...

Really we hadn't noticed

[LotuSeed]

What are you planning on saving? *noseyface*

There's a fair bit of information on this thread, http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=118458.0, with tips for specific plant families and the Garden Organic pdf also goes into a bit of detail on the numbers of plants to grow to maintain plant vigour as well as true seed. Some of that isn't attainable for home growers though.

I am quite keen on seed saving...

Tomatoes, peppers, peas, beans and peanuts. I grow heirloom varieties and like to save seed from the ones that taste the best. I know I saved seed from my Dad's Sunset tomato last year bc they were delicious, but I can't seem to locate them. Argh!

Lol Kristen. Yeah I know those cucurbits aren't very choosy lol.

[surbie100]

All of those bar peppers should be self-pollinating shouldn't they? I'm assuming you mean bush or pole beans. I use wedding favour bags (cheap here on t'internet) to isolate flowers if I need to. The peanuts sound more complicated for storage from what I read. OH is on at me to grow them...

I'm trying salsify, beetroot and aubergines this year, with a few other things too for the seed circles. I'd love to be virtually self-sufficient in seeds for most things bar brassicas which I'm not sure I could isolate enough.

[Markw]

Hi lotuSeed
You will enjoy saving your own seeds it is fun and rewarding, I have saved most of my seeds for a few years now, here is another link that may be of help to you.
http://www.seedsave.org/issi/904/beginner.html
Even if they say that they will  self pollinate I still bag them or isolate them to be on the safe side, I will be having a go at sweetcorn this year   

[LotuSeed]

The back of the pea packet said to keep varieties separated by 50ft, I think the tomatoes advise for much more distance. Not impossible, but could be difficult if I want to plant more than one variety of each crop and considering my garden layout. I saved black turtle beans from last year, they were grown away from my blue lake green beans. This year I'm adding pink indian beans and assume I'll need to isolate those from the others as well. My peanuts were an experiment last year and they did pretty well. I bought them as seedlings at the end up May and pulled them up at the beginning of November. I hung them up to dry them and they've held up just sitting on top of one of my kitchen cabinets. It was fun to watch them grow. They do like a long hot growing season and should be harvested when the weather is dry. 
I'm sure the last thing you need is another source for buying seeds, but Baker Creek out in California sells an awful lot of fascinating heirlooms from around the world, and they ship internationally 😊 rareseeds.com

[LotuSeed]

Thanks for the links guys! 🌱

[surbie100]

I love Baker Creek - it's one of my favourite sites just for browsing through. I've already got a wish list for things from it for this autumn. Their seed packets are usually a lot more generous than many of the companies here, particularly for squashes.

I'd still go down the bagging route for tomato trusses to be safe if you're growing lots of different varieties. French beans I'm less fussy about - mostly because the ones I bagged last year didn't seem to 'take'.

[DD.]

I really must link to the Garden Organic pdf for the pea seed saving guidelines, if for no other reason than the fact that they are my peas in the picture!

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/sites/www.gardenorganic.org.uk/files/resources/hsl/6_Peas.pdf

[New shoot]

I'm no expert. but I do save a few seeds each year.  I grow my tomatoes side by side in the greenhouse and save seeds from them.  They always seem to come true. 

I also save seeds of peas and beans - I have a really old version of climbing blue lake, that had been grown by an elderly lady for years and came to me via a mutual friend, plus Cherokee Trail of Tears beans, a couple of unusual mangetout peas and Wizard field beans (a type of broad bean).  The broad beans are on the plot and other people have normal broad beans nearby.  The climbing beans and mangetout are usually fairly close to one another, growing up wigwams of canes, and again, they come true.

If you were saving seeds to sell like Realseeds do, I'd say take all the precautions they advise, but if its for your own home garden, I would be inclined to relax a bit 

[New shoot]

I really must link to the Garden Organic pdf for the pea seed saving guidelines, if for no other reason than the fact that they are my peas in the picture!

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/sites/www.gardenorganic.org.uk/files/resources/hsl/6_Peas.pdf

You 'pet' Kent Blue pea by any chance ?  I seem to remember you got a mighty haul of seeds from that single plant 

[DD.]

Actually, these are "Stokesley" from 9 years ago! 

[LotuSeed]

Surbie, Baker Creek has such a vast and varied collection! I love how they give a free seed packet with each order too.

DD thanks for the peas link. I actually did end up planting the two varieties I have in two different locations instead of in the same bed.

New Shoot thanks for that reassurance. I want to save seed purely for my own purposes. I do wonder though how places like seeds savers exchange screen what's sent in to them. I'm wary of buying seed from individuals on ebay and amazon or etsy and the like because I don't know if they've been saved properly.

I'm mainly interested in saving and fine tuning tomatoes with the taste I want 🍅. 

Thanks bunches