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Seed Saving: How I Save Seeds From My Organic Garden

There is something rather magical about saving your own seeds.

A flower that began as a tiny seed, grew into a plant, flowered in the garden and brought colour, bees and joy throughout the summer, can produce the very seeds that will begin the whole cycle again next year.

Here in The Organic Yarden, I don't want the gardening year to simply end when the flowers fade and the vegetables are harvested. Autumn is also a time for collecting, drying, sorting and storing seeds.

This year I've been saving seeds from some of my favourite plants, including tomatoes, Astrantia, poppies, Amaranth, Aquilegia and zinnias.

And while seed saving might sound complicated, it really doesn't have to be.

Let's save some seeds!

Why Save Your Own Seeds?

There are lots of reasons I love saving seeds.

For me, one of the biggest is that it makes gardening feel like a complete cycle.

Seed → plant → flower or fruit → seed → plant again.

You're not starting from scratch every spring.

You're continuing the story of your garden.

Saving your own seed can also:

reduce the number of seeds you need to buy
help you preserve plants you particularly love
allow you to grow plants that have already proved they can thrive in your garden
reduce waste
give you a useful supply of seeds to share
encourage you to learn more about your plants
make gardening even more self-sufficient

And there is something wonderfully satisfying about opening a little envelope in spring and thinking: "I grew these."

When Should You Collect Seeds?

The important thing is not necessarily the month but the stage the plant has reached.

Seeds need to be mature before you collect them.

For many flowers, this means waiting until the flower has finished blooming and the seed head begins to dry.

It can be tempting to collect them too early because we gardeners are impatient creatures. I know this because I have absolutely stood beside a seed head thinking, "Are you ready yet?"

Let the plant do its thing.

Look for signs such as:

flowers fading completely
seed heads turning brown
pods becoming dry
seeds changing colour
seed heads beginning to open naturally
seeds becoming firm and dry

If the seed head is still green and soft, it may not be ready.

My Seed Saving From The Organic Yarden

This year I've been collecting seeds from a mixture of vegetables and flowers.One thing I've learned is that not all seeds are saved the same way.

Here's how I'm dealing with each of them.

Saving Tomato Seeds

Tomato seeds are slightly different from most of the flower seeds I've saved. Inside a ripe tomato, the seeds are surrounded by a slippery gel.

For the best results, I like to remove this gel through a simple fermentation process.

How I save tomato seeds

Choose a fully ripe, healthy tomato from the plant you want to save from.

Cut the tomato open and scoop the seeds and surrounding gel into a small container.
Add a little water and leave it somewhere at room temperature for a few days.
The mixture will begin to ferment.
Don't worry — it isn't supposed to smell particularly lovely!
After a few days, rinse the seeds thoroughly in a fine sieve, removing the remaining pulp and gel.
Spread the seeds onto a piece of paper or a suitable surface and allow them to dry completely.
Once dry, store them in a labelled paper envelope.

My tomato seed-saving tip

Only save seeds from plants that you were happy with.

If a tomato plant produced healthy plants with good fruit, that's the plant whose seeds you want to keep.

I also make sure I label everything because apparently my future self has absolutely no idea what my past self was thinking.

Saving Astrantia Seeds

. Astrantia is one of those plants that can quietly produce seeds without making a huge fuss about it. Once the flowers have finished, the seed heads can be left on the plant to mature.

I collect the mature, dry seed heads and allow them to dry further before removing the seeds.

Astrantia seeds can benefit from a period of cold before germinating, so autumn sowing can be worth considering, or the seeds can be given a period of cold stratification before sowing. Either plant them in Late Autumn and let them go through a Winter or place seeds in the fridge for a week in a sealed container.

This is one of those plants where nature's own timetable can be helpful. Sometimes the garden knows best.

Saving Poppy Seeds

Poppies are fantastic plants for seed saving.

Once the petals have fallen, the distinctive seed pods remain.

Leave the pods on the plant until they have dried.

You'll know they're ready when they become dry and papery and the seeds inside have matured.

Poppy seeds are tiny, so I take care when collecting them.

I usually cut the dried seed heads and tip them carefully into a paper bag or container.

And don't forget...

Poppies are excellent at self-seeding too.

So if you don't collect every seed, don't panic.

You may find little poppy seedlings appearing around the garden next year.

Sometimes the garden plants itself better than I do!

Saving Amaranth Seeds

Amaranth produces beautiful flower heads packed with tiny seeds.

As the flower heads mature, they begin to dry.

I leave them on the plant for as long as possible while keeping an eye on the weather. Once they're sufficiently dry, I cut the seed heads and bring them somewhere dry.

Then I gently rub or shake the seed heads over a container to release the seeds.

Because the seeds are so small, you will probably end up with some dried flower material mixed in with them.

That's okay.

You don't need laboratory-grade seed separation for your home garden.

Remove the larger pieces of debris and allow the seeds to dry thoroughly before storing them.

Saving Aquilegia Seeds

Aquilegia is another wonderful seed-saving plant because it produces those lovely little upright seed pods after flowering. As the pods dry, they eventually open and release their seeds.

I collect the pods once they're dry and mature and gently shake the seeds out.

Aquilegia can also self-seed readily, so you may find seedlings appearing around your garden without any help from you whatsoever.

One thing to remember

Aquilegia varieties can cross-pollinate. That means the plants you grow from saved seed may not look exactly like the parent plant.

And honestly, I rather like that.

Seed saving can bring a little bit of garden surprise with it.

Saving Zinnia Seeds

And now I'm saving zinnia seeds too.

The dried flower heads contain lots of seeds, but they also contain plenty of dried petals and other plant material.

I let the flower heads dry thoroughly before gently breaking them apart.

The seeds can then be separated from the dried material and allowed to dry completely before storing.

Zinnia seeds are relatively large and easy to spot compared with some of the tiny flower seeds.

If you grew several different zinnia colours together, remember that they can cross-pollinate, so the flowers you grow next year may not be identical to the plants you collected the seed from.

That's part of the fun of growing from your own seed.

The Most Important Part: Drying Your Seeds

If there is one thing I would say to anyone beginning to save seed, it's this:

Make sure your seeds are completely dry before storing them.
Moisture is the enemy of stored seed.
Seeds that are put away while still damp can develop mould or deteriorate during storage.
After cleaning my seeds, I spread them out somewhere dry and well-ventilated.

I don't put them straight into an airtight container. I give them plenty of time to dry first.

How I Store Saved Seeds

Once labelled, I keep my seeds somewhere cool, dark and dry.

The biggest enemies of stored seed are generally: Heat + moisture + light.

So avoid leaving your seed collection sitting somewhere warm and damp.

A cupboard or suitable storage box can work well.

And keep those labels with your seeds.

Future-you will be grateful.

Don't Throw Away Your Seed Heads Too Quickly

One of the things I love about autumn is that the garden can still be full of life even when summer is disappearing.

Dried flower heads can provide food and shelter for wildlife, and many plants can provide seeds for birds.

So I don't rush around cutting everything down the minute the flowers finish. I leave plants standing for as long as I can.

I collect the seeds I want to save, but I also leave plenty behind for the garden's wildlife.

Seed saving doesn't have to mean stripping the garden bare. It can be about taking a little and leaving plenty.

Seed Saving Is Part of Organic Gardening

For me, saving seed fits perfectly into the way I like to garden.

Organic gardening isn't just about avoiding synthetic chemicals.

It's about looking at the garden as a little ecosystem.

Saving seed encourages us to slow down and pay attention to the plants we're growing.

Which plants thrived?
Which produced beautiful flowers?
Which vegetables tasted fantastic?
Which plants attracted pollinators?
Which ones coped well with the weather?

And perhaps most importantly:

Which ones do I want to grow again?

From This Year's Garden to Next Year's Garden

My little collection of saved seeds is now beginning to look like a tiny treasure chest.

Tomatoes.
Astrantia.
Poppies.
Amaranth.
Aquilegia.
Zinnias.

Each little seed carries a connection to this year's garden.

Next spring, I'll open those envelopes, sow the seeds and see what happens.

Some will grow exactly as expected.

Some may surprise me.

Some may decide they have absolutely no intention of germinating because gardening apparently needs a little drama.

And that's okay.

That's gardening.

The wonderful thing is that the cycle continues.

This year's garden becomes next year's garden.

And I think that's one of the most beautiful things about growing your own

Want to save your own seeds?

I've created a free Seed Saving Kit to help you keep everything organised. It includes a seed-saving checklist, a seed record sheet and printable seed packets for storing your own garden seeds.