Seed saving - PEP BB gardening.straw.seedsaving

I've been seed saving all season, and for once I actually tool pictures as I went along! (somewhat....)

I got pictures of my green leaf lettuce: I planted some butts from grocery store lettuce three years ago. These babies pop up all over my yard every year beginning in Feb. I cull all the weakly looking ones and transplant the healthy ones in the garden bed. I haven't actually needed to save seeds since I let them bolt every year and scatter, but I decided to do it this year to share with anyone who wanted some.

I've got pictures from my green onions: similar story, they were from grocery store "trash" parts. They've travelled about 10 ft in the 4 years since I first planted them, and come back strong every spring. Saved some seeds this year as a backup; had a scare with some little critters eating my plants and they munched three of my green onions!

Clemson spinless okra: new to me this year, I bought one plant to save the seeds so I can plant more for next year. Got two pods off my plant, remembered to grab pictures before I cleared all the seeds out of the last pod.

Shishito peppers: oh boy, this guy is my gardening nemesis! I've been trying to grow one for three years now and every year the seedlings and sprouts have died on me. This year I finally managed to grow one and get not only flowers but peppers! I've saved a bunch of the seeds 'cause those suckers are more expensive than I like to shell out (honestly, most seeds are. I like free seeds)

For my seed collecting:
I let the plant bolt, or let the fruit ripen until it starts to dry on the plant. I cut off or collect the seed pods, fruit, etc and put them in a white washtub. Seeds that are dry get extracted and placed into their container (usually baby food jars or old washed-out med bottles). Seeds from fruit and veggies get cleaned and laid out to try on a papertowel for a few days. I use the "snap" test to make sure they're sufficiently dried for storage, then into the jar they go. All jars get labelled with name and year. Jars are stored in the bottom back of my pantry in a cardboard box.  

I have a picture of all the seeds I've saved this year: veggies, herbs, and a couple ornamentals. I'll tell you what's not fun: getting seeds from basil and catnip!! those pods are so stinking tiny and the seeds FLY out when you open them.....I got a little white washtub just for doing my seed collecting/cleaning.

I realized after uploading all my other photos that I forgot a closeup of the okra in it's jar: it is in the jar collection lineup, second from the left!

Carolyne, for those little pods, one possible way (untried by me and likely to fail miserably) is to pulse them in a blender for a bit.  That's how I get brassica seeds out of their pods.

Mike Haasl wrote:Carolyne, for those little pods, one possible way (untried by me and likely to fail miserably) is to pulse them in a blender for a bit.  That's how I get brassica seeds out of their pods.

That’s a good idea! My husband has a little mini coffee grinder that might do the trick. I’ll have to give it a go and see how it works; the seeds are small enough that I think they’d fall under the blades once the pods were cut open

BB for certification

I typically store the seeds in jars, or sometimes reused ziplocks.

I harvested these seeds in preparation for making seed bombs.  So I'm not storing them at all.  However I do typically store seeds in envelopes or jars, then those envelopes are in airtight containers, then those containers are put into metal boxes in a cool, dry corner of the basement. But I did label them for you: