What fruit / veg / flower seeds can I harvest and grow???

danih

Hi just curious.

I have thrown out peppers, tomatoes and bunches of flowers plenty of times, and then bought seeds for these same plants to grow. Wondering what fruits / veg / flowers have seeds that i can realistically harvest and grow.

i have posted a very similar thread on the OS moneysaving board yesterday - and have learnt that some plants are hybrids and grow poorly when their seeds are harvested. Realised that this is a more appropriate board to learn a bit more about this.

Thanks

Dani

WantAnOrange

Yes, I would think the first year you would need to buy them, then harvest seeds from your home-grown produce for next year and I was under the impression (I'm a complete novice) that heirloom varieties were best for this?

JessicAhh

Like WantAnOrange, I would suggest you look to buy in your first year - you never know what manufacturers have done to their hybrids to make them sterile etc.

One of the cheapest ways to get hold of seeds - and most helpful - is to buy one of the grow your own magazines when they're giving away a bunch of seeds with it. That way you get a magazine with lots of advice and some seeds to start you off

Patchwork_Girl

This website has some great information about seed saving and how to for lots of different plants here: http://realseeds.co.uk/seedsavinginfo.html. I had no idea about hybrids and such things before. Their seeds also all come with seed saving guidelines - though some of them are more pricey than elsewhere (I don't have any connection to them - just a happy customer )

kingmonkey

You cant save F1 (hybrid) seeds basically. Peppers can cross easily so you need to isolate the flower and manually pollinate. Don't know about tomatoes.

ALIBOBSY

The other posters have covered things really, but that said I worked with a guy who one lunch in March decided to pinch the middle from a tom slice on his sandwich and plant them. He got a load of pretty decent mid sized tomatos off it lol.

I also have known people plant seeds from butter nut squash and get decent plants.
I have grown pepper seeds and still got peppers-although not exactly looking like the parent plant lol.

Not all commercial crops are F1 and although many crops cross easily the reality is its likely the plant your tomato/pepper/whatever grew on was in a massive group of other toms/peppers/whatever in a commercial setting.

TBH first year I would look around for free seeds-loads on magazines and the odd offer comes up here and buy cheap seeds and not worry about variety.

Aldi and Lidl do cheap seeds and sometimes they and other sellers knock down the price of the seeds to get rid of them in the next few months.

I would say it certainly moneysaving and definately a possibility, but you need to look at it as an experiment and accept it can fail.

In fact look on the main page where there is an offer for 11 packs of herbs for free.

Ali x

danih

Thanks everyone!

I have been looking on the real seeds uk website. Prices are ok and the info is good. Planning on a wee spend when payday comes.

I have ordered the free herb seeds from that the other thread - all gone now, but seem to have got in just in time

I think I will experiment with seeds from my fruit and veg at home - might get lucky!

Fruittea

Hi Everyone
I'm always keen to seed swap. Have a look at the site and see what you think. http://seedswappers.co.uk/


Also this year have grown lot's of my stuff from saved seed - all the beans- runners and climbers and the butternut squash and pumpkins. I germinated at the Tesco Finest range tomatoes to see what would happen and so far so good.


Some of the herbs are pretty easy to. Caraway and coriander have all done well.
Good luck.