It's cut and dried

If you want to save your own seeds to grow them next year, make sure they are completely dry, says Bob

- Bob Flowerdew

WE all end up saving seeds – it’s inevitable, as we just can’t stop ourselves. Is there anyone who hasn’t at least one ‘posy’ of dried plants, either crop or bloom, hanging in their garden shed, a few wildflower seedheads in their pocket or a drying sweet pepper core on the kitchen windowsill? I reckon it’s sort of an inherited trait – ‘putting away the seed corn’, so to speak.

As a bit of fun it doesn’t matter much if those seeds survive, remain fertile and germinate, although it would be nice. However, if you really want to save your own seeds to grow them next year, you will have to take much more care.