How to Save Seeds from Homegrown Vegetables

Saving seeds from your homegrown vegetables, fruits, herbs, and greens involves three steps: Selecting seeds from the most suitable plants, harvesting them at the right time, and storing them properly so that they’re ready to plant the following season. Here’s how to save seeds from your garden properly.

I used to think one of the worst parts of summer was when my beloved plants would start to show signs of heat stress and bolt. Once a plant starts to bolt, the result is inedible, bitter-tasting leaves or poor-quality produce with little that can be salvaged.

In the past, I silently mourned the changing of the seasons and would pull up my bolting plants to make way for new ones.

However, after learning about seed saving from Ethically Kate, I realised this phase of the plant’s lifecycle was great for collecting seeds, which I could plant in my garden next season.

Bolting is when plants, particularly frost-tolerant plants like lettuce, coriander, kale and other greens, have a vertical growth spurt, getting taller than their maturity height and developing flower heads, where they start to seed before the vegetables are ready for harvest.

Saving vegetable seeds can help preserve the particular variety you are growing (for example if you are growing an heirloom variety), and it can also produce vegetables which are more adapted to the local environment and conditions in which they’re grown, helping to increase yields.

How to Save Seeds from Your Garden Plants

Kale Seeds

There are a few things to note when it comes to saving kale seeds.

Use ‘open-pollinated’ or ‘heirloom’ varieties of kale. When collecting the seeds of hybrid plant varieties, they may not work when planted later down the track. You may be able to check and see if your plants are hybrid or not by looking at the packet containing the kale seeds (if you still have it), or if you ordered your seeds online, you should be able to find your receipt order (even if that means you need to email the company), otherwise you can try looking up the variety you are growing online, and see if it’s a hybrid or not. Note that if a plant is organic, this does not mean that it isn’t a hybrid. It’s always good to double check.
Keep different varieties of kale plants away from each other to avoid cross pollination issues arising. Make sure to plant different kale varieties apart from one another (not in the same garden row or bed) to prevent cross pollination. If it’s too late and you HAVE planted two heirloom varieties next to each other, that’s okay, it may just create a mixed/hybrid variety from the seeds. All is not lost. Just ensure you plant any future varieties away from each other.

Once the kale starts to bolt and flower, the leaves will become bitter and tough (due to the plant putting all of its energy into seeding). Do not harvest, cut off, snap, remove or damage the flowers in any way, or no seeds will develop. These flowers will eventually turn into seed pods. You may need to stake the flower stalks, as they can grow quite tall and fall over, damaging the flowers.

Long green skinny pods start to develop after the flowering stage, but these pods can’t be harvested until they dry out, turn brown and start to split open. Do not harvest seed pods when they are wet (for example after heavy rain), they must be dry or you risk the seeds going mouldy. If the pods are not harvested, the kale will self-seed in your garden.

How to Store Kale Seeds

When collecting the seed pods, cut the stalks at the bottom of the plant, waiting at least two days after it rains to harvest your seed pods to prevent them going mouldy.

Once harvested, carefully place the kale pods in a brown paper bag, taking extra caution when doing so to prevent the pods splitting open and spilling kale seeds everywhere.

Label the brown paper bag before storing somewhere out of the way, preferably in a dark, dry place at room temperature. If you’re saving the seeds of different plants or plant varieties, it’s important to label them to avoid confusing which seeds are from what plant.

The next step is to winnow your seed pods. This process involves separating the seeds or grain from the chaff or pod (the seed’s outer protective coating). After a few weeks, check the seeds in the brown paper bag to see if the pods are completely dry. This will indicate if the seeds are ready to winnow.

How to Winnow Seeds

There are a few different ways to winnow kale seeds, including:

Shaking the brown paper bag with the seeds inside to remove the seeds from the pods. Just ensure the brown bag is tightly closed to prevent the seeds flying everywhere.
Placing the seed pods on a sheet, colander, or cheesecloth, and shake it over a container so that the seeds fall into the bowl and the seed pods remain behind.
Finding yourself a nice comfy place outside in the sun, maybe grab a towel to lie on, some refreshing homemade iced tea, and hey, why not? Your hubby to come sing for you while you do the tedious exercise of de-seeding each individual pod by hand.

To store the kale seeds, place them in a sealable bag or envelope and label it. It was also recommended by Cris from The Homestead Garden to store the seeds in the back of your refrigerator (not a must, but optional), as cold, dark storage places help to keep the seeds viable for longer.

Tomato Seeds

When it comes to seed saving, only choose seeds from the strongest, most healthy looking plants, as this allows you to naturally select the traits you wish to foster in your future plants. Opt for seeds from the pants that produce the best fruit, and avoid using seeds from the weaker, more unusual looking plants.

When it comes to saving seeds from tomato plants, allow the fruit to fully ripen on the vine before picking. Scoop out the seeds and pulp, and place this seed/pulp mix in a jar of water and leave it for a few days, gently swirling the seed water around daily.

After a few days, the seeds should have separated from the pulp and come to rest at bottom of the jar. Pour the liquid away and rinse the seeds.

Leave the seeds to dry on a paper towel and, once fully dry, store in a sealable bag or envelope and label it. Keep the seeds in a cool, dry place until ready to plant.

Capsicum Seeds

To harvest the seeds from peppers after the fruit has fully ripened on the plant (it should have started to wrinkle), remove the seeds from the capsicum and spread them out on a paper towel to dry. Once completely dry, store the seeds in a sealable bag or envelope and label it. Keep the seeds in a cool, dry place until ready to plant.

Pea and Bean Seeds

To collect the seeds from pea pods and bean plants, first allow the pods to fully ripen on the vine until dry and brown in colour. Remove the pods from the plant and spread them out on a tray indoors to dry for at least two weeks.

Shell the seeds from the pods or wait and leave the seeds in the pod, shelling them when you’re ready to sow the seeds the following season.

Store the seeds in individual sealable bags or envelopes that have been labelled with the name, variety, and date you collected the seeds.

Lettuce and Spinach Seeds

As with kale, lettuce and spinach will grow a tall green stalk as they bolt. When you start to see seeds forming on your spinach plants, don’t pick them, instead allow the plant to continue growing nice and tall. Once the spinach plant dies and starts to dry out (and falls over), you can collect it up and hang it upside down for another week or two to completely dry out.

When it comes to lettuce, you’ll notice little “puffs” or “blooms,” kind of like a dandelion, begin to form on the lettuce stalks. Once these blooms open up, you can capture the seeds by shaking the bloom into a bag, or, as a safer option, you can dry the stalk completely before the blooms open.

Once the stalks have completely dried out, you can either pull the seeds from the stalks and heads and place in a sealable bag or envelope, or place the whole stalk/head in a bag and store it that way. Always make sure to label and date your seeds, as most seeds will only last a few years. Store the bag somewhere dry, cool, and dark until ready to plant.

Broccoli Seeds

When it comes to saving seeds from broccoli plants, they can prove to be a little more challenging. This is largely because broccoli is a cross-pollinator, meaning it requires other broccoli plants nearby to pollinate it. Broccoli is closely related to other members of the mustard family (Brassica), including cauliflower, cabbage, choy sum, rutabaga, turnip, and more. This means that cross-pollination may also occur among other plants of the Brassica family, creating hybrids. As with kale, using hybrid plants to collect seeds is not ideal long term, as the rate of success is much lower. It’s best to plant only one type of Brassica if you want to save the seeds for planting.

The seeds of the broccoli plant come from the unopened flower buds, the part of the broccoli plant that we eat. This means you’ll need to sacrifice your most delectable head of broccoli for eating, and instead use it for collecting seeds.

To save the seeds, allow the broccoli head to mature and turn from green to yellow as the flowers bloom and turn into pods. Once the pods have dried on the broccoli plant, pull up the plant from the garden and hang it up to dry for up to two weeks.

Remove the dried pods from the broccoli plant and either crush them in your hands or use a rolling pin to remove the seeds from the pods. Separate the chaff or pod from the broccoli seeds and store them in a sealed bag or envelope labelled with the name and date of harvest, and store in a cool, dry place until ready to use.

Cauliflower Seeds

Cauliflower plants are insect pollinated, and, as such, will cross pollinate with all other members of the Brassica family. To avoid hybrid variations occurring, make sure to keep these plants separated from other Brassica members. It’s recommended to have a segregated area of around 800 metres (half a mile) to keep seeds pure.

In a warm climate, cauliflower plants bolt very easily. If you want to harvest the cauliflower heads before seeding, make sure to plant them earlier in the year so they mature during the cooler months, otherwise they’ll skip the harvesting stage and go straight to bolting. In a cold climate, harvesting cauliflower seeds are a little more challenging.

When collecting the seeds, set aside a few of your healthiest plants. Do not harvest the heads. Save them for when they go to seed. If you live in warmer climate, you can keep the cauliflower in the ground for the two years it takes to bolt. However, if you live in an area that experiences frosts, the plants need to be dug up in the autumn. Store them over winter and then replant them again in the spring. If the temperature in your area generally only drops below freezing for a few weeks, but not below -2 °C (28 °F), you can plant cauliflower in the autumn time and harvest seeds the following summer.

To save the seeds, harvest the seed stalks when the seed pods have dried on the cauliflower plant. Winnow the chaff from the seed using a sheet or cheesecloth, and shake it over a container so that the seeds fall into the bowl and the pods are left behind.

Store the seeds in a labelled sealable bag or envelope, and keep in a cool, dry place.

Aloe Vera Seeds

To collect seeds from an aloe vera plant, you must wait until it is at least four (or more) years old, as their seeds are more reliable by this time. However, the exact time can vary, as it really depends on the species of your aloe. Some plants don’t mature for up to a decade. Once the plant starts to flower, it’s able to produce seeds.

You can harvest seeds from the spent flowers. Aloe seeds are tiny, greyish-brown to black, and flat. If you’ve had your aloe for a few years, you may have seen the seeds in the flowers after they’ve browned and lost their petals. Seeds that are light-coloured or white are not ready to harvest. They will not germinate.

To extract the seeds from the aloe vera plant, you’ll need to split open the dried seed pods. You’ll know they’re ready when they are brownish-green in colour. Keep a basin under the pod to collect the seeds and discard the empty pods. These seeds can be planted right away, or you can wait until the following spring to sow them outdoors.

If you choose to save the seeds, keep them in a sealed bag or envelope labelled with the name and date of harvest, and store in a cool, dry place until ready to use. It is recommended to use the seeds within the year they were harvested.

Parsley Seeds

Seeds can be harvested after the second year, when they become dark, as parsley plants do not go to seed during their first year. Removing weak or imperfect two-year-old plants at the end of the first season can help ensure that only the healthiest plants can fertilise each other and produce good seeds.

After the parsley plant has finished flowering, the seeds will emerge light or bright green in colour. From there, they will progress to a tanned tint, and during the final stage, seeds will turn brown or otherwise dark in colour. If you harvest parsley seeds before they’re ready, they may not germinate when you go to plant them.

Once the seeds are brown or dark in colour, cut off the seed heads. To do this, pinch the stem just below the seed head with your thumb and index finger, and cut the stem just below your fingers. Remove the seed heads carefully, shaking them as little as possible as you work (as you may end up scattering the seeds).

Gently shake the seed heads into a paper bag to quickly and easily remove the majority of the mature seeds. If a few young seeds still remain stuck to the heads, you can let them ripen by laying the cut seed head out in the sun for a few days.

How to Ripen Parsley Seeds

To ripen more of the seeds, spread the cut stalks out on tightly-woven fabric sheets and place them in direct sunlight indoors. Keep the parsley stalks in a single, thin layer as they dry. The seeds should be ripe within two days. It’s important to keep the seeds indoors as they dry, as birds or other small animals may end up getting to them if they’re left outside.

Seeds can also be plucked from the seed heads individually. If a few seeds from a cluster ripen much faster than the others, you can harvest them on their own by pinching them off with your index finger and thumb. Parsley plants can ripen at an irregular pace, meaning that some seeds might be ready to harvest three weeks earlier than others.

How to Dry Parsley Seeds

Once the seeds have been collected, they will need to be left to dry for at least two weeks before they can be stored for later use.

To dry the seeds, spread them out in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in a warm, dry location. Turn and mix the seeds each day to prevent them from drying unevenly. The seeds must be thoroughly dry before you can store them.

Once dried, the seeds can be stored in a sealed bag or envelope labelled with the name and date of harvest. Keep them in a cool, dry, dark place until ready to plant.

As always, this is not personal medical advice and we recommend that you talk with your doctor before trying or using any new products. I am not a doctor. All opinions expressed are my own personal thoughts and feelings of the products mentioned. Check with your doctor or health practitioner if you are uncertain about trying out any of the products, recipes or tips mentioned in this post.

Have you tried saving seeds from your garden before? What plant seeds have you saved? Share in the comments below.

Lots of love,

Vanessa

Sources:

Seed Saving: How to Save Kale Seeds. (June 16, 2018). The Homestead Garden. Retrieved from https://www.thehomesteadgarden.com/seed-saving-how-to-save-kale-seeds/

Grant, Amy. (Updated: June 20, 2022). Harvesting Cauliflower Seeds: Where Do Cauliflower Seeds Come From. Gardening Know How. Retrieved from https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/cauliflower/harvesting-cauliflower-seeds.htm

O’Driscoll, Dana. (August 24, 2012). Seed Saving 101: Spinach & Lettuce Seed Saving. The Druids Garden. Retrieved from http://thedruidsgarden.com/2012/08/24/seed-saving-101-spinach-lettuce-seed-saving/

Grant, Amy. (Updated: May 17, 2021). Planting Broccoli Seed: How To Save Broccoli Seeds In The Garden. Gardening Know How. Retrieved from https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/broccoli/saving-broccoli-seeds.htm

L. Grant, Bonnie. (Updated: April 1, 2021). Aloe Seed Propagation, How To Grow Aloe From Seeds. Gardening Know How. Retrieved from https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/houseplants/aloe-vera/growing-aloe-seeds.htm

Kurtz, Lauren. (Updated: January 6, 2021). How to Harvest Parsley. WikiHow. Retrieved from https://www.wikihow.com/Harvest-Parsley