Saving Seeds From Your Garden: A Beginner's Guide for Alberta

The hybrid problem

Most modern vegetable seed (anything labelled “F1”) is hybrid — the result of crossing two specific parent lines. Save seed from an F1 plant and the next generation is unpredictable: some plants like the parent, some weak, some weird. Seed saving requires open-pollinated (OP) or heirloom varieties, which breed true.

Look for “OP” or “heirloom” on the seed packet, or buy from companies that focus on open-pollinated seed (Heritage Harvest Seed in Manitoba, Prairie Garden Seeds in Saskatchewan, Salt Spring Seeds, William Dam). One round of buying OP seed sets you up to save your own forever.

Easiest crops to start with

• Beans and peas: Self-pollinating, no special isolation needed. Let pods dry on the plant, shell, and store. The beginner’s seed-saving crop.
• Lettuce: Self-pollinating. Let one or two plants bolt; the flower stalks produce small white florets, then little seedheads with fluffy white pappus (like dandelions). Pick whole heads when most florets have gone fluffy.
• Tomatoes: Mostly self-pollinating, slight risk of cross-pollination from bees. Squeeze ripe seeds and pulp into a jar of water; let ferment 2–3 days; rinse seeds clean, dry on a paper plate.
• Peppers: Mostly self-pollinating. Cut open ripe (red/yellow, not green) pepper, scrape seeds out, dry on a paper plate.

Harder crops (skip until you’re experienced)

• Squash, cucumbers, melons: Cross-pollinate within their species, including with related wild plants. Hand-pollination and bagging required to keep varieties pure.
• Brassicas: Need 2 years (biennials) and isolation from related brassicas (broccoli crosses with kale, cabbage, etc.).
• Carrots, beets, onions, parsnips: Biennials. Need to overwinter the root, then it goes to seed in year two. Possible in Alberta with mulched-over roots; tricky.
• Corn: Wind-pollinated, crosses readily with neighbour’s corn for kilometres. Hard to keep pure in suburbia.

Drying and cleaning

All seeds need to be fully dry before storage — moist seeds mould or sprout in the jar. Spread on paper plates or screens in a single layer, somewhere warm and well-ventilated. Stir daily for 1–2 weeks. A seed is dry enough when it shatters cleanly when bent rather than bending or denting.

Clean off chaff and plant debris. For dry-seeded crops (beans, peas, lettuce), gentle rubbing between palms separates seeds from chaff; pour back and forth between bowls in a light breeze (winnowing) to blow chaff away.

Storage

Store dry seeds in glass jars or paper envelopes — never plastic bags, which trap any residual moisture. Label clearly: variety, year saved, source. Keep in a cool, dark, dry place. A cupboard in an unheated room is fine; a refrigerator is even better for longer storage.

Approximate seed life under good storage:

• 1–2 years: onions, parsnips, parsley, corn
• 3–4 years: beans, peas, carrots, peppers
• 5+ years: tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, brassicas

Testing germination on saved seed

Before relying on a saved batch for next year’s garden, test it. Place 10 seeds on a damp paper towel, fold over, slide into a labelled plastic bag, leave somewhere warm for 7–14 days. Count how many sprouted.

8–10 of 10 = excellent, plant normally. 5–7 = sow extra to compensate. Below 5 = buy fresh seed. This test takes 14 days of nothing — do it in January for next spring’s seeds and you’ll know whether to order or not before catalogues sell out.