Seed saving is the foundation of food sovereignty. By selecting and saving seed from your best plants each year, you develop varieties perfectly adapted to your soil and climate — and you never need to buy seeds again.
Method
- Only save seed from open-pollinated or heirloom varieties — hybrids will not produce true-to-type offspring.
- Mark your best-performing plants at the start of the season. Never eat or harvest from these — let them go fully to seed.
- For wet-seeded crops (tomatoes, squash, cucumbers): scoop seeds into water, ferment 2–3 days, rinse and dry on a plate for 2 weeks.
- For dry-seeded crops (beans, peas, corn, flowers): leave seeds on the plant until fully dry and papery, then shell and spread to dry further indoors.
- Store seeds in labeled paper envelopes inside an airtight glass jar with a silica gel packet.
- Keep seeds cool, dark, and dry. A basement or refrigerator (not freezer) is ideal.
- Test viability each spring: place 10 seeds between damp paper towels. If fewer than 7 germinate, replace your stock.
Tips & Notes
- Fermentation for wet seeds mimics natural rotting and kills seed-borne diseases.
- Pepper seeds need to be saved from fully ripe (colored) fruits, not green.
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