The Art of Seed Saving

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As summer gives way to autumn, the garden inside your Growing Dome begins to change. Growth slows, flowers fade, and seed heads take shape. This shift is a reminder that some of the most valuable harvests aren’t eaten right away. Practicing seed saving now preserves the varieties that thrive in your dome and sets you up for even greater abundance next season.

By saving seeds from your garden, you can reduce costs, preserve rare and heirloom varieties, and ensure a thriving garden season after season. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned gardener, seed saving is an empowering way to cultivate a deeper connection to your plants and contribute to the health of your garden.

Why Seed Saving Matters

Seed saving is more than just a practical gardening technique, it’s a vital way to protect plant diversity. By preserving seeds from heirloom varieties, you’re helping to safeguard unique traits that might otherwise be lost. Additionally, seed saving can save you money and reduce your reliance on store-bought options. It’s also a sustainable practice that minimizes waste and helps you adapt your garden to local conditions, ensuring that each generation of plants becomes stronger and better suited to your environment, in our case our Growing Dome greenhouses.

What Seeds Can Be Saved?

Not all seeds are suitable for saving, and knowing which types to choose can make a significant difference in the success of your seed-saving efforts. The best candidates for saving are open-pollinated and heirloom seeds, while hybrid seeds tend to be less reliable for future generations.

Open-Pollinated Seeds

Open-pollinated seeds are produced by plants that naturally pollinate within their species, typically through wind, insects, birds, or other natural mechanisms. They produce seeds that, when saved and replanted, grow into plants with the same traits as the parent, provided they are not cross-pollinated with a different variety.

Open-pollinated plants can adapt over time to the specific conditions where they are grown. If you save seeds from the same variety year after year in the same location, the plants may gradually develop traits that make them even better suited to your soil, climate, and growing methods. This process is called landrace adaptation and is one reason many traditional varieties are so resilient. If you are looking for varieties native to the Southwest, Vibrant Earth Seeds are our go-to! They get bonus points for having seed saving tips right on the packaging.

Fun fact: before the early 20th century, nearly all seeds available to farmers and gardeners were open-pollinated. Commercial hybrid seeds did not become widespread until the 1930s, which means many of the world’s historic crop varieties were maintained solely through open-pollinated seed saving. In a controlled space like a Growing Dome, you can more easily prevent cross-pollination, making it simpler to preserve the purity of your open-pollinated varieties.

Heirloom Seeds

Heirloom seeds are open-pollinated varieties that have been maintained for at least 50 years, often passed down through generations without crossbreeding with unrelated varieties. They produce plants that are genetically stable, meaning the seeds will grow into plants with the same traits as the parent. Many of our favorite seeds from Botanical Interests happen to be heirloom varieties!

Within a single heirloom variety, there is often greater genetic diversity than in modern commercial varieties. This diversity can help plants adapt to varying conditions and may provide some resilience against pests, diseases, and environmental stresses. Many heirloom varieties are regionally adapted, having developed traits suited to the climate, soil, and growing conditions where they were maintained. In a controlled environment such as a Growing Dome, heirlooms can be isolated from cross-pollination with other varieties, which helps maintain seed purity for future plantings.

Hybrid Seeds

Hybrid seeds are created by cross-pollinating two different, but closely related, plant varieties to produce offspring with desired traits such as disease resistance or higher yields. While hybrids can produce excellent results in terms of uniformity and productivity in the first generation, saving seeds from hybrids is not recommended. The offspring from saved hybrid seeds are unpredictable and often do not retain the same traits as the parent plants. They may revert to traits from one of the parent plants or produce completely different characteristics. The easiest way to tell if a seed is hybrid is to check the seed packet or catalog, as hybrids are almost always labeled with “F1” or “Hybrid.”

The Seed Saving Process

Saving seeds involves selecting healthy plants, harvesting mature seeds, and properly cleaning and storing them. The process varies slightly depending on whether you are working with wet or dry seeds, so understanding these differences is essential.

Selecting Plants for Seed Saving

Start by choosing the healthiest, most vigorous plants in your garden. Look for those that have shown resistance to pests, disease, and environmental stresses. Selecting seeds from these plants ensures the best traits are passed on to the next generation.

Harvesting Seeds for Seed Saving

Plants like tomatoes, cucumbers, and melons produce wet seeds encased in a gel-like substance or pulp. To harvest these seeds, allow the fruit to fully ripen on the plant, as this is when the seeds are most mature. Once ripe, cut open the fruit and scoop out the seeds along with their surrounding pulp. Plants like beans, peas, lettuce, and flowers produce seeds that dry naturally on the plant. Wait until the pods or seed heads are fully dried and brown before harvesting. For flowers, allow the heads to dry completely on the stalk. Gently shake or rub the pods or heads to release the seeds.

Cleaning and Preparing Seeds for Saving

Wet Seeds: After harvesting, wet seeds require fermentation to remove the gel-like coating that inhibits germination. Place the seeds and pulp in a jar or bowl with a little water and let them sit at room temperature for 2–4 days. Stir the mixture daily to prevent mold. Once the fermentation process is complete, viable seeds will sink to the bottom. Pour off the liquid and non-viable seeds, then rinse the remaining seeds thoroughly. Spread them on a paper towel or fine mesh to dry completely.

Dry Seeds: Dry seeds usually require minimal cleaning. After harvesting, remove any remaining plant debris by sifting or winnowing the seeds. For larger seeds, such as beans, simply pick through them by hand to ensure cleanliness. Spread the seeds on a dry surface, like a tray or paper towel, and allow them to air-dry for at least a week to ensure no moisture remains.

Pro Tip: Seeds should be dried to about 8% moisture content for long-term storage. As a quick check, they should snap or shatter, not bend.

Storing Seeds

Proper storage is critical for maintaining seed viability. Once seeds are completely dry, place them in labeled envelopes, jars, or seed packets, noting the plant type and date of collection, and any other information that you may want to remember when you go to plant them next season. Store them in a cool, dark, and dry place such as a dedicated seed box. Adding silica gel packets can help reduce humidity and extend the seeds’ lifespan.

Pro Tip: Test older seeds before planting by placing ten seeds between damp paper towels in a sealed bag. If fewer than seven sprout, plant extra or replace them.

Conclusion

As the garden inside your Growing Dome shifts from peak summer to the calm of autumn, seed saving is both a celebration and preparation. Letting plants go to seed preserves the varieties that thrive in your dome’s unique microclimate and ensures their return next season. Sometimes preserving the harvest means more than canning or dehydrating. Saving seeds is one of the most powerful ways to guarantee you’ll enjoy as much, if not more, bounty than you did this year.