Save seeds to replant for next year?

[Liz Brooks]

Can you keep seeds from your veggies to replant next year? This is my first year with an herb garden and I popped in some peppers too. They are all doing wonderfully. Can I keep the seeds and replant? Do I need to do something special to them over the winter?

[kadesma]

I just get new seeds or already started plants each year..It's easier and I know just what I'm going to get.
kadesma

[BreezyCooking]

Liz - you can certainly save seeds for next year. You just need to be sure that they're mature, completely dry, & stored in an airtight container in a relatively cool, dry place (like a spare-room closet - no attic; no garage).

However, that said, do keep in mind that depending on the type/variety of plant - as in whether it's a hybrid or not - some or all may not grow true to the parent plant(s). That doesn't mean that you won't get delicious useful plants from the saved seed, just that they may not be exactly the same as the plants that produced the seed.

[Chef Munky]

Yes you can...
The most important things that come to mind is make sure that the seeds you want to save are fully dried.Marked,and stored as airtight as you can get them.
Something else about cross pollinating plants, (not intentionally) Just planted too closely.You won't have the same pepper plant that you had this year.
If you've planted more then one variety that is.If not no worries :)

I'm sure you could use a dehydrator with the special sheets to dry them as well.

This link might help ya..Good luck.

Save Your Seeds! How-To Directions | Healthy and Green Living

Munky.

[carolelaine]

We've been saving my grandmothers tomatoes for over 60 years through the generations. I rinse the seeds to get the sticky stuff off of them and then dry them for around a week on a plate. Then I store them in small glass jars in the closet until next year. I have also saved squash and pumpkins successfully. I have never been able to get okra to come up from saved seed.

[Liz Brooks]

This really helps! Thanks everyone!

[BreezyCooking]

Quote:

Originally Posted by carolelaine I have never been able to get okra to come up from saved seed.

At what stage of pod development have you been saving your okra seeds? If the pods are still relatively soft & green (or red or white depending on the variety), that's probably why you're having problems - the seed isn't mature yet. To collect viable seed from okra, the pods have to be mature & dry. So next time, towards the end of the season, leave a few pods on a few plants & let them just grow, mature, & dry on the plant. Then harvest the seed inside & see if that helps your germination next season.

[Claire]

I, too, find it more predictable to just buy new seeds in the spring. I mean, half the fun of gardening is to peruse seed catalogs!

If you do use your seeds, know that peppers cross-polinate very, very, very easily. You will have NO IDEA what variety will pop up when you plant in subsequent years. One year we grew what we referred to as "Papal Peppers" (a friend gave us seeds from a pepper they picked off a bush they saw in Vatican City). It was an upright, yellow when ripe, semi-hot pepper about an inch long. It got so that it was a joke to see what came up the next year. Every year the seed produced a different kind and color of pepper, depending on what was in our garden or our neighbors'. Hey, don't believe in evolution? Grow peppers from seed over years, trust me, they WILL evolve!