Easy seasonal seed saving
Grow next year’s new plants for free with this easy seed collecting guide
1 FOXGLOVE What to do:
Foxglove seed pods burst open and self-seed readily, but if you want to control where they grow or have a go at simple propagation of these beautiful plants, you can collect it yourself. Cut down the gone-over flower stems with pods all down the stem, before they’ve burst open. The pods ripen first near the bottom of the stem. Shake the browning seed pods into your hands and collect the tiny seed in your palm. Use a kitchen sieve to separate plant parts and seed, then pour the seed into a paper envelope and label well. You can sow now direct outside, or into pots for growing on and planting out.
2 SWEET PEA
What to do: Now your sweet peas have pretty much come to the end of their growing season, you can leave a few plants to fully go to seed, when they’ll produce pods that will eventually go brown. Once the pods have dried on the plant, pick them before they split open, collect the seed from inside and place in a labelled paper bag. Store in a cool, dry place until late autumn or early spring.
4 SUNFLOWER
What to do: Enjoy your sunflower heads until they start crisping over and browning, then leave some out for the birds! Save a few heads for yourself though – you can either pick off dried heads and tweezer out the individual seed to save, or you can do it more easily by putting a paper bag over the cut head of your sunflower, and shaking it upside down for the loose seed. Many say that you know when the head is ripe as the back of it has turned brown. Keep the seed in a dry place until spring. 3 NIGELLA What to do: One of the easiest and most satisfying plants to collect seed from, nigella has prominent round seed pods with little compartments inside which are dozens of black seed. Pick off a few seed heads – you won’t need them all as they contain so many seeds, unless you want to stop the plants self-seeding, or want to collect some to give away as gifts. Open the heads and pour out the contents, being careful to remove the casings. Sow now loosely where you’d like them to flower, or save in a dry, cool spot to sow next spring as normal.
5 COSMOS What to do:
It’s the bright centres of pretty cosmos flowers that holds the seed. Once the petals have fallen away and the centres are browning, collect a few stems of the plant and pop them in a paper bag for harvesting. Snip off each little clustered seed head and pick it apart for the individual long, brown seeds. Leave them to dry in an airtight jar for around a month, then pop them in a
labelled paper bag in an airing cupboard until spring.