Saving Seeds with The Peninsula Food Growers Coop

by Gary Searing

Harvesting a crop of fruit or vegetables is incredibly satisfying and does not need to stop there. Seed saving can be very simple, and a great place to start is to save seeds from five easy crops that self-pollinate: beans, peas, tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce. Step-by-step guidelines are listed here:

Make sure your plants are open-pollinated varieties as opposed to hybrid varieties as open-pollinated plants will result in daughter plants that are ‘true to type’. Seeds from a hybrid plant, however, will produce unexpected results. Heirloom varieties are open-pollinated. Here is specific advice on successfully harvesting specific seeds:

It is essential to let the fruit and seeds fully mature, and after collection, to allow them to completely dry (whilst not letting them get too warm).
Beans and peas: It is best to let peas and beans dry on the vine and so plant them as early as possible or they get could caught in the damp fall weather before they ripen.
Tomatoes: Let tomatoes get overripe and then ferment the pulp and seeds by placing in a jar with some water for a few days. Viable seeds will sink, and the rest will float. Separate and rinse the good seeds and then dry them on a plate.
Peppers: Be sure to plant your sweet peppers at least 3 m away from your hot peppers because, although they generally self-pollinate, there can be a bit of cross-pollination, and you don’t want heat in your sweet peppers. Let your peppers fully ripen and collect seeds from the nicest fruits which you can also enjoy eating.
Lettuce: Let the plants flower until you can see that the seeds are formed and dark(ish). You can collect the seed heads by hand, or you can bend the plants over and shake the seeds into a bag. Because lettuce seeds mature sequentially, you can also cut the clusters of mature flowers off and put them into a paper bag to dry and then the seeds release easier.
Store seeds in a cool dry place until you use them. Beans and peas retain good germination for 3 years, tomatoes and peppers for 4 years and lettuce for 5 years if stored properly.

The Peninsula Food Growers Coop was founded by Gary in November 2022 and is dedicated to building community around growing local food. The mission of the coop is to promote growing food locally by providing support, information and expertise. Our core belief is that encouraging food security and sustainability is key to a rural community, and to all people, in these changing times.

Check out all the fun things that come with the membership of the Peninsula Food Growers Coop: https://soloist.ai/pfgc