Seeds of doubt

Saving and sowing seeds can be fun, but there are times when it is best not to use self-saved seed, says Bob

- Bob Flowerdew

BE careful if you save your own seed, as sometimes you might not get the result you expected. Although many of our flowers and crops set seed that comes ‘true’ (which means they are like their parents), when we sow some, they may not.

First to watch out for are any plants said to be ‘F1’, which simply means that two different strains were crossed to give a certain outcome (the F1). However, seed from an F1 is itself remarkably variable and not ‘true’. Many modern flower varieties are F1s, so take care to avoid saving their seed.

Sweetcorn is a very tempting one to save – it’s obviously easy to save the seed, and it’s expensive to buy. But almost every current sweetcorn is F1 or similar, so the results you get from sowing your own will be variable and generally disappointing – believe me, I’ve tried. You can save an old variety such as ‘Golden Bantam’, but only if you have just one variety.