The Next Generation

Saving your heirloom tomato seeds for the next season’s planting can be immensely satisfying. Here’s how to reap the rewards

The only thing that tops the satisfaction of watching your homegrown vegies develop from seed is the knowledge that they’re growing from seed you saved yourself from last season’s harvest.

These are like your plants’ children and you know they came from strong, healthy parents — and cost you nothing. Plus, you’re doing your bit for seed diversity.

Saving seed is straightforward in plants that produce a dry seed pod — okra or beans, for example — but seed that forms in a wet gelatinous pulp, as in the case of tomatoes, requires a little more than tipping it into a labelled envelope.

These seeds can be cleaned by fermentation, which mimics the natural rotting of the fruit, allowing separation of the good from the bad seed, while also killing off any seed-borne diseases.

When it’s time to save seed, always choose very ripe mature fruit from the most vigorous, tastiest and most productive of your plants so their offspring will inherit these traits.

Seeds from such plants will already be adapted to your soil, climate and garden conditions and will likely have a high germination rate.

FIRST STAGE

What you will need for your seed saving

Cut your ripe tomatoes in halves to access seeds and pulp