Saving Seeds - The Harvest Continues

Once you have picked and enjoyed your herbs or any other vegetables, you can allow them to bolt or go to seed for an extra harvest. Each plant is different, however there are enough similarities amongst them making it easy enough to figure out.

For some basic guidelines, when it comes to seed saving, allow the plant to go to flower, then once this flower turns into a seed pod and has dried out somewhat, you can gather the seeds from it. Plants have a variety of means for producing and dispersing seeds, getting to know each one is always an adventure in itself.

I try to wait until the plant appears to have given everything it can to the seeds, it has dried back or a pod has formed and then I will pick them from the plants. Taking them off too early might result in non viable seeds.

There are several different methods of doing this to ensure maximum seed retrieval, one of which is to tie a paper bag over the top of the plant (seed head) then to cut below the bag. The seeds can then be removed or shaken into the bag for storage.

Another way to gather the seeds, is to allow the seed pods to completely dry out and then pick them off by hand. You may be able to do this easily with rocket and salad leaves. Peas and beans can be left on the plant to dry - when brown or near translucent looking, remove them into an envelope.

Today I was picking chive seeds - generally you need to wait until the flower head is dry, the stalk will also dry out, if you look closely there are tiny black seeds in the head. Cut off the seed head into a bag or bowl and then pull out the dry stalk to clean up the plant.

Once in the house, you can roll or shake most of the dry seeds out onto a table. They can then be transferred into an envelope for long term storage. The same with coriander seeds - cut off the dried seeds, then transfer to an envelope.

Coriander seeds ready to be cleaned and sorted

For other fruits such as pumpkin or anything else you may want to save - I have great luck with just drying the seeds out on a paper towel sitting on a window sill for about 3 weeks. The seeds drying now will be saved for next planting season, in envelopes.

Pumpkin seeds drying on window sill

Once you have gotten some seeds into envelopes, there is only the passage of time until you can plant them, however, the most important thing to remember is to keep them absolutely dry. Otherwise they will rot and not be much use when you need them.

Keep up your interest in the garden - lots happening year round!

Have a healthy day,

April

Coriander plants growing in stages