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how do i get my own seeds from tomatoes, chillis & runner beans? think these are all ive got that i would be able to do this from....
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Chillies, unless you are only growing one variety, are beggars for crossing with one another. Not a problem - you'll still get a chilli you can eat, but it won't be the same as the one you collected the seeds from. Runners also cross so the same thing applies ulness you are growing in your own garden and no near neighbour grows runner beans.
With the chillies, just remove the seeds when you are using a ripe fruit for cooking, leave them to dry and store in an envelope.
With the beans, leave the pods on the plant to dry. When they are rattly, bring them in and dry further on newspaper, then store again in an envelope or paper bag.
For tomatoes, use a well ripened fruit to take the seeds from, and the easiest way is to scrape individual sees onto kitchen roll or newspaper and allow to dry. You can also put them into some water in a jam jar and allow them to rot down or ferment for a few days. Then rinse them well through a kitchen sieve to remove the last traces of the gunk (which is a germination inhibitor) and let them dry on a saucer or some such. Then again, label in an envelope.
Good luck. It's fun saving your own seeds.Whoever plants a garden believes in the future.
www.vegheaven.blogspot.com Updated March 9th - Spring -
Hi For tomatoes and peppers just scrape the seeds from inside onto kitchen towel and allow to dry. Once dry put in envelope and store until next year when needed. You can keep them in the fridge or in a cool dark place. This is what I did last year with supermarket peppers and they are all growing well this year - so far! I know that you have to dry the beans but have never done it so wait for more experienced grapes replies for that and they also might give another way to save tomato/pepper seeds.Comment
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if only i had known i had done it right when trying to guess how to save tomato seeds last year! although i forgot to store them so think they rotted....
im definately the only one to have turned my garden into a veg patch in my cul-de-sac hehehe my courgettes in my front garden keep getting a LOT of funny looks! cant decide if people dont know what they are.
my chillis are jalepino (or however its spelt) & sctoch bonnet... god help me if i get a mix between them 2
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Go for it! I really think more of us should be saving our own seed - it's so expensive to buy. In most cases there is nothing wrong with a bit of genetic diversity - we don't need uniform crops all maturing at the same time unless we are harvesting a field.
I successfully saved Broad beans, Sugar snap peas & climbing French beans last year And have been saving ( mostly self-sown ) rocket, land cress and lambs lettuce for 7 or 8 years. Currently saving Ruby Chard & expecting a bit of variationComment
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I bought some small plum tomatoes (Sunstream) from Tesco earlier in the year. They were delicious, so I scraped some of the seed out of one of them and sowed it. I have four plants growing, with plum-shaped fruit.Comment
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Just go for it and save as mentioned above. If you would like to try keep the integrety(sp?) of your seeds, with the chillies, try putting a zip lock bag over the buds and use a cotton bud or simular item to brush on the inside once the flowers are fully open. Keep bag on until fruit is set then remove. Mark the fruit at the top with a tie or something to remind you which one you want and save the seeds from that one. Good luck.
Just remember if it was hard to get seeds from the plants, there wouldn't be any (not talking about cuttings you lot! )
Never test the depth of the water with both feet
The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory....
Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.
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Very useful thread here to accompany that on real seeds:
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...seed_7174.html
Does anyone know about saving parsnip seed beyond this?
Parsnips make tall flower-heads of little yellow flowers in their second year, soon followed by huge numbers of papery seeds.
I'm sort of at the where they are turning papery, but don't know how long I have to wait until they are really papery and then do I just pull them off?Comment
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I'm at the nearly ready stage of beetroot.......it's taking flippin ages and they are bulking up but still not going brown.
With parsnips and carrots; I'd try the driest and pick off a couple of the old flowers and rub them to see if the seeds are formed and hard yet. I think they have to be really papery, but you could do what I did with the exploding cucumber last year and tie fleece [no holes] around the flowers and tie it in, so that you don't lose the first few waiting for the last ones to go papery enough - using fleece keeps the seeds in whilst allowing wind and rain to do its thing. Then when they are all papery, chop the stem and remove both fleece and flowerhead, and use a shoe box to continue drying them.
When you do clean the seeds after they are all bone dry - please wear a mask - they are really bad on the lungs of you breathe them in......carrots and parsnips I mean, not all seeds.
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