[jambop]

Love playing and experimenting with the garden and the things I grow. Last year I saved butternut, courgette, tomato, onion and French bean seeds. All were successful although the onions were a little small compared to the original. The courgettes were as good as the F1 originals, tomatoes are great too. Any way thinking about saving some pea seeds as I have quite a few dried pods ... worth while? I don't want to bother if its a no no but if worth a try I will any advice? I will be saving all the usual suspects again this year but my onions will all be bought at the market again this year they have been superb and are so cheap to buy (€6 for 125 really fit plants) it makes growing from seed totally daft same goes for leeks, but I understand that true gardeners like the challenge and of course the variety choices.

[surbie100]

Pea seeds will come true so you just let the pea pods dry and keep hold of the seeds. I dry mine in rice for 2 weeks just to make sure the moisture's out, but that might be overkill.

[m1ckz]

do you pick the peas when ready an leave them in the pods to dry    or   shell them  an dry them

[surbie100]

Leave the plants to die back and pick the pods when they are brown and brittle. If you've got mice stealing them you can pull up the plants and hang them upside down to dry somewhere more secure.

[Norfolkgrey]

Easiest way is to let them dry on the plant. However if you need the space, then you can shell them and leave them to dry. You will know they are completely dry by trying to press your finger nail in. If you don't make a mark on the pea they can be bagged up and stored somewhere cool, dark and dry 

[ARPoet]

Last year i bought a packet of garden pearl bush tom seed from Kings. There were only about 12 seeds in packet and i thought it not very good value.
 So i saved seeds from a few of the ripe toms and got 100s which i dried and saved in a packet. On Jan 1st i sowed some of them and most took and i ended up with about 50 plants. I selected the best for myself and gave the rest away. I have 4 plants in the greenhouse and have been picking and eating for 2 weeks now.
I have 10 plants in pots outside and they are not as advanced but have got toms on them.
I still have loads of seeds for next year so will see if they grow well again.

[jambop]

Most tomato seeds, in my experience grow true to type cannot comment on the F1 varieties though... however the older varieties are always better for flavour anyway so stick with them and you are fine 

[Dave NE]

Radish seed pods are very tasty, pick when plump and green, good for dinner parties or barbies or even in your pocket as nibbles, Dave

[Growster...]

Most tomato seeds, in my experience grow true to type cannot comment on the F1 varieties though... however the older varieties are always better for flavour anyway so stick with them and you are fine 

We're trying a few Sungold (F1) from seed saved from last year. They're just beginning to ripen, in a bed on the allotment, and so far, they are the same size and colour as the original, and the trusses are as long as they should be!

It is just an experiment, but does make for more fun in seeing the result... (or not if they taste horrible of course...)!

[Ema]

Peas are very easy to save. I normally pick them when the pods look like there ready to burst and then take the peas out of the pods and sort through as I get quite a bit of pea moth damage

[Bohobumble]

I only had 4 seeds of pea variety Lincoln leftover from last year do I deliberately grew them for seed only this year.

I have 60 seeds that dried on the plant and a further qty that are growing in their pods now

I was worried they would cross pollinate, but they were the first to flower