Save Your Own Seeds
Chive Seeds. Photo by A. Bradley Now that summer is coming to an end and your vegetable harvest is in full swing, consider leaving some of those ripe veggies on the plant to let their seeds ripen. Collecting your own seeds is a rewarding opportunity and provides you with free seeds for next year’s garden. Plant Type Self-pollinating plants, such as tomatoes, beans, and lettuce, are the easiest to collect. Self-pollinating plants do not need another plant to pollinate their flowers to produce fruit. The plants produced from these seeds will be similar to the parent plant. Cross-pollinating plants, those that rely on the wind or pollinators to pollinate their flowers, are more difficult to collect seeds that will grow true. Meaning the plant grown from the seed of a cross-pollinating plant will not be like the parent plant. Collect Annual plants produce seeds in one season (for instance beans, squash, and spinach). Collect mature seeds at the end of the gr...