Saving Vegetable Seeds
TYPE |
AB |
STORE |
POL |
METHOD AND PROBLEMS |
| Leafy brassicas |
B | 8/9yrs | I | Permit only one variety to flower each year. Collect pods when yellow and unopened. Apart from broccoli, they need 2 years to make seed - bad for rotation. |
| Alliums | B | 2/3yrs | Ignore plants which bolt in first year. Lift onions, replant best
bulbs late winter. Leave leeks in situ. Can be planted in border, where very dramatic and attractive to insects. Tall stems need staking. |
|
| Radish | 9/10yrs | Radish is annual, other roots are biennials. | ||
| Carrot | 5/6yrs | I | Ignore plants which seed first year. Select best of stored roots, replant in early spring. | |
| Parsnip | B | 2/3yrs | I | As carrot. |
| Marrow, etc. | A | 5/6yrs | I | For marrow, pumpkin, courgette, limit vine to 1 fruit, ripen until hard, cut open (with saw) and extract seed. For outdoor cucumber, ripen under glass. |
| Lettuce | A | 2/3yrs | S | Many highly bred lettuces refuse to bolt. Use old-type variety, ignore early-bolting plants and choose best late-bolting specimens. Thutle-type seeds will check frequently to catch them in time. |
| Legumes | A | 9/10yrs | Check selected plants by pinching out tip (bush) or upper side-shoots (stick), allow pods to ripen on vine, finish by laying vine flat under cloche or uprooting and removing to shelter. | |
| Tomatoes | 9/10yrs | I | Choose early- ripening plants, leave trusses 3 and 4 to ripen fully (ignore misshapen or miscoloured fruits), rub seeds gently from split fruits, and spread to dry. | |
| Corn | A | 9/10yrs | W | One cob is enough. Ripen on stem until hard, shelter if necessary. |
Key to pollinators (Pol): I= insect; S= self; W= wind
