I have to admit, if there is one thing I envy about other people, it’s those people that can look at a plant and it blossoms. Bonus points if it’s a persnickety, exotic and fragile plant that they are successful at not only keeping alive, but flourishing.
I do pretty good with animals, but plants and me are frenemies. I have a difficult time getting anything to sprout, grow and produce despite having taken gardening classes, the space to grow stuff, sprinklers and an endless supply of manure (see my attempt at creating compost because of this here). So I wanted to create an easy read guide about some things I’ve learned about seeds specifically. Seeds are to plants what eggs are to my flock: nutrition, genetics, potential and future.
Should I save my own seeds from stuff I eat? I jumped here because I’ll assume you’re reading this as someone in a similar position to me (space, sprinklers, etc. maybe without endless manure if you’re lucky!) already. I have been attempting to save seeds and cuttings from things I chop up in my kitchen for a long time, but usually unsuccessfully. Cuttings from things like celery and lettuce that sit in water and grow are doable, but the end product is not usually like what you brought home from the store. Those giant celery stalks end up producing small leaves that taste great if you like powerful celery flavor, but disappointing in the stalk department. Same for lettuce: you will get nice tiny leaves that are like spring mix, but a big effort for tiny outcome.
You will also need to account for the differences in home grown produce and what you buy in the store, even if it’s marked as “organic”. The produce in your grocery store has been grown with intense production practices that don’t translate to a home garden or even to future produce at all. More on that later…
Now, there is never any harm in trying, especially if there is learning and experience garnered from these attempts. Very top level of saving seeds is to consider “wet” vs. “dry” seeds. Dry seeds come from peppers: bell, green, spicy, you name it. These are easy to harvest and prep: scrape them out and let them dry for days on a paper towel before storage. To get these seeds to germinate later, they must go through a cycle of wet-dry-wet, usually from being planted and watered in warmth to germinate. These are good seeds to start indoors and move outside when they’re inches tall and on their way. Wet seeds come from tomatoes, squashes, cucumbers, melons. They are usually surrounded inside the fruit by some kind of goo or strings. These types of seeds are coated in something to prevent them from germinating while inside the fruit (although I’ve successfully? unsuccessfully? kept a tomato long enough on the counter that little sprouts had started inside the fruit once I cut it. This is good! Plant those things right away in soil and they’ll grow). The reason why I wasn’t able to grow any plants from tomato seeds I’d carefully saved and dried was because of this coating I knew nothing about. The proper way to save these seeds is this: scrape the seeds out along with the goo/strings into a glass jar with some water to cover it. Let it sit on the counter for 3-5 days, stirring it occasionally to prevent mold from growing on the top. This process “ferments” the liquid which removes the anti-germination covering from the seeds. Strain the entire liquid while rinsing to remove all the goo, etc. leaving only the seeds to dry on a paper towel for a few days before storage or planting.
That’s high level because then I get the what about? questions about strange and complicated things like citrus seeds (hard to sprout, take a long time to grow significantly), avocadoes (fun to sprout, but the long wait to fruit is always disappointing), potatoes (those are eyes, not seeds!), etc. Let’s stick with the basics. I probably won’t delve into flower seeds, either, since it seems those types of plants involve seeds (duh!) or some form like cuttings, pups, runners, etc. that is straightforward.
Where do I get my seeds from? My top three seed sources in ascending order:
Store bought. Gets ya every time you go into the feed store/dollar store/garden store. Pros: cheap, easy to find, usually perform well. Cons: use them immediately, their “packed for” date is already old by the time you buy it in the store. A big con for these seeds is that they usually grow well and produce fruit once, but the saved seeds either don’t grow at all or have a super low crop the next time around.
Heirloom/Open pollinated/nonGMO. These are usually catalogs of very interesting seeds that are tested and true by the business selling them. Pros: heirloom and rare types, reliable to continue future harvests, conservancy, specialty and historic types, tested by pro gardeners. Cons: initial price. These seeds have all of the bells and whistles for the planet, your garden and your diet. Favorites from these guys are Rainbow carrots (don’t limit yourself to just orange), purple and black tomatoes, small tangy cucumbers, and things I’d never eaten before that were a joy to grow and taste, like purple kohlrabi. I didn’t get to taste too much of it because my geese absolutely LOVED it and would make a beeline for it if I left the garden gate open.
Seed swaps. Same as above, but as a swap that eliminates the price con and you get the added pros of locally available plants that are from your area or do well in it as well as the knowledge your source can give you as growing tips. This method is also great for getting plants, cuttings, etc. to skip the seed stage entirely, although, of course, save your seeds from these plants!
Not a method per se, but definitely something you can and should cultivate, is collecting your own seeds. Have a friend with an amazing garden? Offer to weed for them while they share their success stories. Someone gave you a lovely cut flower bouquet? Save those seeds from sunflowers, zinnias, basil, oregano and mint! On a hike and see something interesting? Save those seeds! Pocket the fruits/flowers to dry and collect seeds from (daisies, coneflowers, bulbs) or take some cuttings (rosemary, succulents, vines). Get a really good plant id app (my favorite is iNaturalist since it contributes to ongoing preservation and research at different levels) and use it to refine your ability to id plants and know what they’re useful for or avoid them (poison ivy? creeper? sorrelvine?).
How do I store seeds? The most important thing to consider before storing your seeds is that they be completely dry. Always err on the side of letting them dry more than you think is needed, because if they aren’t dry or have pieces of fruit still stuck, it will mold and destroy your harvest. Store them in an area that mimics the seasons outside but without extremes (cellar, garage). Some seeds need to experience the cold or even freeze a bit before they’ll germinate. The sciencey term for this is cold stratification. Apple seeds need this and are persnickety, I tried to emulate cold stratification using humidity and my fridge, but it didn’t work. Fruit trees take such a long time to get mature enough to produce fruit, it’s easiest to shortchange that process by buying trees that are already years old.
Thick hulled seeds (sunflowers, morning glories) do fine dried and stored in a bag. The rest I like to store loose or in a coffee filter inside a jar. If the jar has a top, don’t seal it tightly to let some air flow and prevent mold just in case.
Soaking and sprouting. These methods have really helped me improve at starting plants. The thicker the hull, the more it benefits from a soak: at least overnight if not more, and start with warm water. Some seeds even benefit from being scored or nicked through the hull after the soak (yucca grass seeds). I was able to get millet plants by keeping the seeds moist for a few days until they sprouted, then planted the sprouts. I was trying to “grow my own birdseed”, which is doable, but you must double check the source of your starter seeds - birdseed has been heat treated to prevent the seeds from germinating on store shelves and therefore is impossible to grow. When in doubt as to sprout, you can always soak a few seeds from your supply and see what happens compared to dry planting.
Let it go to seed. If you are able, this method is really great for your garden! I’m an incredibly impatient person (especially with plants), but the payout on letting some plants go to seed benefits your garden and pollinators (the birds and the bees, but the actual ones not the euphemism). Any time someone warns me about this “plant will go crazy/take over” I take advantage, because those kinds of plants are the ones that have a chance at surviving me! These are also good candidates for letting it go to seed, at least some of it: mint and co., marigolds, beans, peas, even carrots if you can keep critters from eating the seeds. The plants from these seeds are a safeguard against losing your stored seeds, they can be “dummy” plants for insects/birds to be drawn to instead of your real effort plants, and can naturally become more disease resistant and adapted to your garden.
Happy harvesting!
Comment below with your favorite (or least favorite!) plant-based saying. Mine is: Bloom where you’re planted. Least favorite because I’ve been “stuck” in places in my life where I wasn’t blooming and wasn’t happy about it, either. Now I can empathize with my own plant attempts that didn’t even grow, or bloom, and am ok enough now to say, This wasn’t the place for you.
Instead of admonishing people to stick it out in places where they aren’t happy or able to bloom, I like Grow as You Go instead. May you find new places and be able to grow continuously!