Saving Seed

If you have never done it before, the very easiest seeds to save are French beans, tomatoes, peas, wildflowers, and lettuce because these almost always self-pollinate; this means you can save seeds from plants you have grown as normal - nothing extra necessary. 

However, please be aware that seed saving is a craft, and most vegetables need human intervention and some planning to produce seeds that will breed true and produce strong plants. Left to pollinate naturally they are likely to cross with other varieties or similar crops.  For instance, sprouts will cross with cabbage varieties and different varieties of pumpkin will cross with each other. The seeds produced from these plants will therefore not be true.

The following 3 websites offer great info to get you started on seed saving.

http://www.realseed.co.uk/   - Fantastic handouts about seed saving to view online or to print off.

https://www.bristolseedswap.com/

Our West Country Big Sister of seed swapping. Their wonderful online seed saving booklet is linked here:  https://c51e3a1b-7dc2-498a-8ed1-958d72a8abd1.filesusr.com/ugd/366bfb_778ec74de48440398af5a0fdc9f39cb1.pdf 

https://www.diyseeds.org/en/home/   - 40 videos to watch about seed saving.

Please pack seeds in envelopes with their collecting date. Some seeds keep in the right conditions for several years.

We are happy to have excess seeds you bought or that came free on magazines etc. as all the information needed will be on the packet.

See our seedy resource page for lots of other links or suggested reading.

All YOU NEED TO DO

WHAT SEEDS TO DONATE

We encourage Heirloom and Heritage varieties, grown without chemical fertilizers or pesticides.

Please don't donate seeds saved from F1 crops or from fruit or veg you have bought; there is a strong possibility they are F1s - even if they are organic.

F1 plants are productive hybrid plants, which are bred to be good for commercial production, mass harvesting and transportation. But whatever their good qualities, they do not breed true to type. Plants grown from their seeds will be an odd and varied bunch, some good, some a waste of space. We aim for predictable seeds, so no-one wastes time and space. We would hate anyone to be put off growing by bad results.

Seed Collection Boxes for Autumn 2022 will be confirmed soon.