I have been saving seeds from crops that we have grown this year. Some are from things we have eaten such as peppers, and others are from an odd plant that I let go to seed. Every penny counts in our household as our income is low. I therefore make my own little seed saving envelopes from pages in a magazine or junk mail. That way these cost nothing.
Saving seeds save me a lot of money but also gives me security as I know I have seeds to plant for food for the following year. Each year I buy a few new varieties of hierloom seeds, and add these to my saved seed collection. This way the amount of seeds that I need to buy each year reduces and the variety of my seeds increases.
I also save seeds from bought food, or F1 seeds if I get them cheap. This year they were selling seeds for 50p each at my local garden centre and so I bought some varieties that I had not grown before. However, if you save seeds from these crops, you have to be relaxed about it if they don’t turn out like their parent plant, or you don’t get a good crop. I use them for extras to try things, or like for extra tomatoes or peppers, but wouldn’t use them for a crop I really rely on for food. My peppers were especially good this year suprisingly, and I have saved seeds again.
To make the envelope I cut a square, the size depending on how big the seeds are. Today it was Pak Choi and carrot seeds which are only small.
I then fold the square into a triangle with the point facing up. One side is then folded over.
Next the other side is folded over. Each side is double layered and so I tuck the point of one side into the meddle of the layers of the other. You can put a bit of tape on for extra security if you want
It is starting to look like an envelope now but if you put your seeds in, they will fall out of the bottom. The top triangle is two layers. Separate them and pull one forward.
Place the seeds between the two layers. Fold the triangle down and tuck into the envelope. Again tape can be used but I usally don’t.
Label your seeds and don’t forget to put the year that they were saved.
This year I have lots of pak Choi seeds from one plant that I let go to seed. I am going to try to grow microgreens to eat during the winter From some of them..
Store seeds in a cool, dark, dry place. I put mine in an air tight container and an old photo album. They can be frozen for long term storage. Have you saved many seeds this year? Below is an earlier blog written about seed saving a few years ago.
I usually save sweetpea seeds, runner beans, Calendula( although these and Love-in-the-mist self seed in places), Love-in-the-mist and some tomatoes. I used to grow Butternut squash seeds from seeds I saved but they came out like a Spaghetti squash but without the spaghetti part.
I have made envelopes in the past only a different shape, I now use the smallest prescription bags and fold over the top and seal with tape, or cut some off to make it smaller.
Good idea. I saw someone cutting the very end off the squash seed when sowing it. Do you do that? I thought I might try. Apparently it improves germination
I have virtuous weeds – seeds that appear in the paving cracks or between the “official” plants. The edibles I encourage are lambs lettuce, land cress, various mustards, (if I am lucky) purslane, chives. Of the flowers, fleabane has taken over among the slabs. Foxgloves, forget-me-not, nigella, nasturtium (leaves and flowers lovely in salads), pot marigold etc are at home in the garden. Borage, comfrey, Bright Lights chard self-seed freely over the allotments. I find that sowing from saved seed is quicker germinating, and more reliable than packet seeds. An old recycling box filled with garden soil and sown with the left over rocket and other saved salads has romped away compated with bought packets.
Really appreciate your blog
Thanks. Yes I have a lot of things self seed in my garden as well, especiallly fox gloves and forget me nots. Thanks foor sharing. I agree about saved seeds having a better germination rate compared to bought seeds
Please can you let us know about how good your micro greens are. Mine were a failure last winter. Thank you for your posts. Pam
Will do. I probably won’t be soowing them until after Christmas as the salad produce os still doing well under glass in my raised boxes.