[contact-form]
Long-time readers (hello, thank you for sticking with me) may know that I’ve been on a drive to live frugally and reduce my living costs and increase my output. There’s a long backstory there, but for the last year it’s all been about living frugally, even when it comes to growing my own veg and flowers. 

Around this time of year, August and September, is a perfect time to start collecting seeds from annuals to store and sow for next year. There are some really easy wins – plants that produce an abundance of seeds that are easy to collect, store well, and germinate freely the when sown – that will produce fantastic results when next year’s growing season is upon us. Based on my experience and my own thrifty garden, here are a few of my recommendations for the easiest plants to save seed from:

5 Flowers for Easy Seed Saving

1. Poppies

Whether you like the ornamental opulence of opium poppies or prefer the bold simplicity of the field poppy, you can easily collect seed from the trinket-like rotund poppy heads. Simply take an envelope or empty seed packet, shake the contents of a dried poppy head, then label the packet and store. Alternatively, just shake the poppy heads and empty the seeds onto well-draining soil where you’d like new plants to grow. Chances are, they’ll germinate and reward you the following year with plenty of blooms.

2. Hollyhocks

The trumpet-like flowers put on a stellar display in late summer, and once faded, wilt and drop from the plant spire. Neatly packaged fuzzy circular seed pods remain, encasing the flat seed discs within. Once the seed pods dry and the seeds mature, the pods gently open. The seeds can be easily collected and stored, or scattered in situ in late summer and autumn.

3. Nigella

The jewel-like delicate blooms of Nigella transform into fat pods in later summer and autumn, which are chock-full of seeds. The pods can be left in borders to add structural interest and texture, and will happily self seed. But if you want to spread the seed further afield, simply pick a fat pod and gently break it open. Inside you’ll find little chambers filled with tiny black nigella seeds which can be easily distributed amongst your borders, or collected into envelopes or seed packets for sowing when you’re ready.

4. Alliums

The name ‘allium’ covers a plethora of flowers and plants from this family, but specifically I want to draw your attention to the likes of Allium hollandicum (Purple Sensation), and their edible siblings of sorts… chives (Allium schoenoprasum)! This year I’ve collected seeds from both types of allium, after they set seed once they’d finished blooming around early-mid summer. Wait for the flower heads to completely dry out… and then wait a little longer. The seeds can be collected by very gently pulling the flower heads from the stalks and tapping the seeds out into an envelope or seed packet.

5. Nasturtiums

In recent years I’ve come to love nasturtiums, for a number of reasons. Firstly, I love how they ramble and scramble. I love how bold the flowers are, and how robust the plants are as a sacrificial companion plant. They might be chewed, munched and crunched by a multitude of insects, but they always bounce back with vim and vigour. They bloom for weeks on end, attract pollinators, and will thrive even in the poorest of soils. The seeds are produced once the flowers finish blooming, and will stay attached to the vine before they detach themselves and fall onto the soil under the plant. It’s at this point that you should collect the seeds – they’ll be chickpea-sized and at various points of drying out – and store them in a cool, dry place until the following spring. Plant the whole seed and its outer shell at least an inch into soil and wait for the magic to happen.

5 Fruit & Veg for Easy Seed Saving

1. Peas and Beans

Saving peas and beans for sowing is easy and very satisfactory too! Allow some of your bean or pea pods to start to dry out on the plant, before harvesting. Remove the beans/peas from the pods and leave out to completely dry out, before labelling and storing. YOu can store in envelopes or seed packets in a cool, dry space, or opt for air tight containers. Just make sure you’ve got a variety that will germinate from its seed, ie NOT an F1 variety. 

2. Tomatoes

Make sure you’re not saving the seed from a sterile F1/hybrid variety of tomato. Simply remove the seeds from the ripe fruit pulp, dry off on a piece of kitchen roll, and store/label until you’re ready to sow. Easy!

3. Squash/Pumpkins, Peppers & Melons

As with tomatoes, extract the seeds from a ripe fruit, dry them out and store. Remember to choose fruit from the most prolific, thriving plants. Seed drying should take roughly a week, and make sure the seeds are spaced out so that they don’t clump and stick together. Store, label and sow the following spring.

4. Lettuce and Greens

These vegetables, if not hybrid varieties (F1), will produce viable seed on the plants if a few plants are left unharvested and allowed to go to seed (bolt). Once the seed heads have begun to dry out, to collect seed from these veggies, stick a small paper bag over the seed heads, and then cut the heads off. Shake the plant heads to release the seed, and then label and store. 

5.Carrots

Leave a few of your carrots to flower (the pollinators love them) before the flower heads dry out and go to seed. Cut off the flower head, tap the seed into an envelope, and keep dry. 

A little note on storage

Most seeds can be initially air dried and kept in a paper envelope. However, to ensure that excess moisture doesn’t spoil the seeds, you can keep them in a container with good ventilation (think: old tights secured and tied up) on dessicated medium like rice to help absorb any excess moisture. This will help keep the seeds dry and prevent them from burning through their energy stores, which are needed for healthy germination.

The post Easy seed saving plants to save money and fill your garden appeared first on The Smallest Smallholding.