How to Save Garden Seeds

The method for preparing garden seeds for storage depends on whether they dry on the plant or are surrounded by moist pulp. The easiest way to start seed saving is to save garden seeds that naturally dry on the plant.

Dry-Seed Crops

Dry seeds come from things like beans, peas, corn, and some ornamental flower blossoms including marigolds and zinnias. The seeds are ready to save when their enclosures turn brown and split easily.

Seeds in pods should be harvested before the majority of pods shatter, spilling their contents on the ground. You can pick most seed pods by hand or snip them off the plant directly into a bowl or bucket. Then spread the seeds where they can fully dry. Choose a place under cover and away from humidity and moisture. After the seeds have hardened, split the seeds out of the pods and clean away any chaff.

Corn, too, dries on the plant. In wet weather you might have to harvest the cobs inside their husks and hang them for further drying. Fully dried kernels feel hard and are easy to pop off the cob. You can press the kernels off the cobs using your fingers. But if you have many cobs to shell, your fingers will get sore (at least mine do). The solution is to use a hand corn sheller.

Moist Seeds

Vegetables containing seeds surrounded by moist pulp must be fully ripe, and in some cases overripe. Ready-to-eat tomatoes, melons, and winter squash have mature seeds. Cucumbers and summer squash, on the other hand, should be past eating prime for seed saving.

In either case the seeds must be separated from the pulp before they will dry. Scrape out the seeds into a jar or bowl, removing big chunks of pulp with your fingers or a utensil.

Cover the seeds with water and let them ferment a day or two, changing the water daily, until the viable seeds drop to the bottom and the pulp rises to the top. Rinse off the pulp, then spread the seeds to dry.

I dry seeds on a ceramic dinner plate, using a toothpick or bamboo skewer to spread them apart. At room temperature, most seeds dry within a few days.

To be sure they are fully dried for storage, I put them in a canning jar with a reusable dehumidifier pack for about a week. Then I transfer the seeds into their final storage container, labeled as to variety and year harvested.

Best Seed Saving Resource

When I need to review the details of how to save garden seeds of a particular type, I consult The Seed Garden — The Art and Practice of Seed Saving. This well illustrated book comprehensively discusses how to grow, harvest, and save 75 of the most common vegetables and grains grown in home gardens.