How many of us save their own veggie seeds?

[old fashioned]

I have been off & on for years (the easy ones) and have been learning more as I go along about the more difficult ones.
I'm now in the process of trying for cabbage seed for the first time which takes two years to develop and last season I left a few heads in ground. And so far they've developed shoots with some clusters that (if anything like broccoli) should become flowers & then seed pods.
I also left some carrots to try again for seed. I've done carrots before and got plenty of seed from them, BUT when replanting those seeds I ended up with "white" carrots. There isn't any Queen Anne's Lace around here & my yard is enclosed by a 6 ft fence & I've read that carrots can "revert". So I've waited a few years before trying again-we'll see what happens.

I've been saving seeds with the intent to become less dependant on seed companies & not that I'm as interested in "keeping a strain pure" although that would be a good thing too.

Anyway, who else out there? And what's your success/failures?

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I'm in the same boat with you. I have been saving the easy seeds for some time and am learning to save for others as I go along.

I read that with carrots the best way to get pure seed is to grow them under hardware cloth (so bees cannot pollinate) next to an anthill. My carrots this year (from saved seed) were paler, but still edible and sweet, however I will be planting freshly bought seed this year anyway. I have not located an anthill yet for further experimentation.

 

[Bettacreek]

This is my first year with a garden, so I haven't anything like you do. I do, however, have seeds from my ornamental peppers. I've been trading these to obtain seeds that I need for my veggie garden. I've been sticking with non-hybrid types so that I can keep my seeds. I'm just doing easy-peasy stuff this year though, tomatoes, peppers, corn, etc. My reasoning behind it is basically the same as your's. Self-sufficiency. Why spend $1-$5 per seed packet every year when you can save a plant or two for seed purposes and get seeds for free.

 

[old fashioned]

Am I confused or are you saying an ant hill is a good thing?

btw- that year (white carrots), I had gotten nearly all my seeds from Territorial & didn't have much success with most of their seeds. That was one of the WEIRDest gardening years ever.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Am I confused or are you saying an ant hill is a good thing?

I know, huh? At our old house I had this ginormous anthill in the front yard that drove me crazy, but I did not want to poison them. I never got up the nerve to try to relocate them either. :/ Now that I could use one, I don't know that I have one anywhere. Joke's on me, I guess.

 

[old fashioned]

I don't know bout you, but I think I'll do without the anthill. Though I will say we seem to have alot of ants around here but I haven't found a hill yet. That's prolly a good thing since I'd want to torch it.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Yeah, in general I agree, but now that we have a little more land I wouldn't mind horribly if ants took up residence somewhere. They seem to prefer living in postage stamp gardens.

 

[old fashioned]

 

[FarmerDenise]

I have been saving my seeds for years. We have a large plastic (rubbermaid) bin filled with our own seeds. I am always ready to experiment with some new seeds. I have been saving basil seeds, although the first ones I planted this year did not sprout, I'll try again. I think I used an inferior batch of saved seedheads, I also have some where I could definitely see some seeds. So I'll have to try those.
I figure anthing that volunteers to grow in my yard, I should be able to purposely save seeds from.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I didn't have much luck growing basil from saved seed. I assumed the kinds I was growing were hybrids.