The autumn garden is a fanfare of paper pods and spiky seedheads. And while it’s wonderful to leave some of these for you and the wildlife to enjoy over winter – it also pays to preserve them. 

Contained within the seedhead are all the genetic instructions for a particular plant and all the reserves to get the seedling off to a good start. As they are nature’s way of preserving plants, seeds can last a long time. 

Saving your seed is the best way to propagate your garden – and the cheapest. It’s a great way to bag a particular veg no longer available, and saving seeds from as wide a range of varieties as possible helps to keep them alive and in use.  

While seed catalogues offer new, improved varieties every year, the reality is that the choice continues to narrow, as does the genetic pool from which they are bred. Seed banks and plant breeders’ collections preserve diversity, but they are not currently open to the general public who want to grow these varieties.  

Seed Guardians at Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library, for example, conserve seed in order to create surplus seed that can be given to others. It’s Variety Champions also take seeds under their wing to protect them, and get more at-risk veg back into the hands of growers. 

Saving your homegrown veg 

Preserving seeds in your own garden helps preserve some of your favourite varieties – perhaps one your parents grew, or one peculiar to the place you live. 

If you get hooked on seed saving and want to save more complicated seeds such as pumpkins, it’s possible to learn more about plant botany and how to preserve varietal purity too.  

But beans and peas are a great place to start. You can leave them to dry on the plant and pop them out of their crispy pods when they’re dry.  

Tomatoes, by contrast are harvested when the fruit is ripe. They produce lots of easy-to-access seeds, and, unlike many other plants, once you’ve saved the seeds you get to eat the leftovers! 

How to save tomato seeds 

1. Using a sharp knife and a cutting board, cut the tomato in half. 

2. Scoop out the seeds using a teaspoon and separate them from the flesh. Tomato seeds are covered in a gel coating so they can be a little bit tricky to handle. An alternative method is to  scoop them into a jar of water, stir daily for three days until the rougher surface is exposed and seeds sink. Then rinse, drain and pop them on a plate to dry.   

3. Place a paper towel on a plate and spread the seeds onto the towel into one layer using the back of your spoon. 

4. Place the plate on a windowsill and leave to dry completely. Once dry, fold up the paper in an envelope and label it. Store it somewhere dry and cool, and in the spring, you can place the paper with the seeds onto moist compost to start your plants. 

Drying and storing your seeds 

The two factors that reduce the life of the seed are moisture and warmth. A dry seed will last much longer at room temperature than a moist seed in the fridge.  

Seeds can be dried naturally, preferably out of full sunlight and not somewhere too hot. To save seeds until the following year, keep them in a cool, dry place. If you want to store them for longer periods a fridge or freezer will be fine. In both cases use an airtight container, a Kilner jar is ideal. 

When you do remove your seeds from storage, we recommend that you do two things: 

• Allow the jar and its contents to come to room temperature before opening. 

• Allow the seeds to ‘rest’ for a few days at room temperature and ambient humidity before sowing. 

This will allow the seeds to reabsorb moisture and not shock the seeds, giving them a better chance of germination – and healthy new plants for your garden. 

This December you can get your hands on delicious heritage vegetable seeds conserved by Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library. Head to gardenorganic.org.uk/hsl and join if you’re not already a member to receive six free packets of seed.