As a general rule, a plant that sets seed has proved to you it can survive in your garden and is therefore worth saving. Pick out the biggest and the healthiest, and you are on the way to developing a strain that is uniquely adapted to the precise conditions of your garden. Remember, however, that your seeds must be stored in a dry and cool place. Collecting Seed To collect seeds successfully you need to catch them when they re fully ripe but before they ve been released. You may have to enclose a seed-head in a paper bag secured with an elastic band during the final ripening stage, to prevent the seeds scattering.
Some seeds remain viable after years of storage, but others germinate best when sown immediately.
Saving Vegetable Seed Reasons for saving vegetable seed obviously include economy, but the most important reason is the frequent difficulty of obtaining some old-fashioned varieties. Such varieties are especially good subjects for homegrown seed, because this is how they would originally have been handled. When planning to raise vegetable seeds, you need at least two plants of exactly the same variety in bloom at the same time. But set against that is the advantage of being able to select the best plants to breed from, and over many generations you will obtain a strain which is best adapted to your garden a privilege surely worth striving for. The Natural Garden Book Create a garden bursting with healthy crops, teeming with wildlife and soothing to the spirit.