It's such a joy to save your own seeds, share them with your community & reap the reward of your strong seed that is climatized to your patch! Charles Dowding gives some great advice on which seed is easy to save & how to do it safely. Seed saving produces strong stable genetics & high germination rate.

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Charles is in the garden where his onions have flowered, gone to seed, and are ready to collect! Onions sown too early will bolt, but successful crops will produce hundreds of tiny seeds to save.

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When saving seeds from any plant, you'll look to choose the ones with your favourite characteristics, you're selecting what your plant will produce next season! 

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The way a seed looks varies wildly from plant to plant. The Onions collect clusters of black seeds in the flower head, whereas Tomato seeds are within the fruit and will need extra care to be saved and stored.

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Pea, Bean & Lettuce, are great plants to start saving from just one plant. Other veg such as Beetroot & Cabbage, need many plants' seeds to create a strong gene pool. 

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Squash & Courgette (Cucurbit) seeds are extremely difficult to save, nor will F1 seeds save well.

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Store seeds by hanging and drying them attached to your plant, once they have lost all moisture you can gently rub them to collect in little paper bags or jars. 

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The seeds you have raised will be super seeds unique to you & your garden, which is a beautiful thing!

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The circular food system is incredible to experience in this way. Which seeds will you save this year?

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