28/08/2026
๐ฑ DONโT FORGET TO SAVE YOUR SEEDS! ๐ฑ
While youโre enjoying this yearโs homegrown vegetables, remember to think ahead to next yearโs garden.
Allow a few of your healthiest plants to fully mature instead of harvesting everything. Beans, peas, radishes and lettuce can be left to produce seed pods or seed heads, while seeds can be collected from fully ripened tomatoes and peppers.
Once collected, make sure the seeds are completely dry before placing them in labelled paper envelopes. Store them somewhere cool, dark and dry until itโs time to start planting again.
Saving your own seeds:
๐ฑ Saves money
๐ฑ Reduces waste
๐ฑ Preserves your favourite varieties
๐ฑ Produces plants already suited to your garden
๐ฑ Gives you extra seeds to share with friends and neighbours
A little planning now could provide plenty of free vegetables next year! ๐ฅ๐
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A few useful things to know:
Beans and peas: Leave some pods on the plant until they become brown, dry and brittle. Remove the seeds and let them dry indoors for another week before storing.
Tomatoes: Choose a fully ripe tomato from a healthy plant. Scoop out the seeds, ferment them in a little water for two or three days, rinse them thoroughly and spread them out to dry.
Peppers: Allow the pepper to
become completely ripe before removing and drying the seeds.
Lettuce: Let the plant bolt and flower. Collect the seeds once the flower heads become dry and fluffy.
Radishes and brassicas: Leave them until they flower and develop dry seed pods.
Courgettes, pumpkins and cucumbers: These cross-pollinate easily, so next yearโs vegetables may differ from the parent plant. Never eat a homegrown courgette or squash that tastes unusually bitter.
Carrots, onions, beetroot and parsnips: These are normally biennial plants, meaning they usually produce seeds during their second year.
Try to save seeds from open-pollinated or heritage varieties. Seeds marked F1 hybrid may grow, but the next generation probably wonโt produce vegetables identical to the original.
Always select healthy, disease-free plants, dry the seeds thoroughly and label each envelope with the variety and year collected.
