Save money on next year’s tomato seeds by saving seeds from your favourite homegrown tomatoes. Find out how to save your tomato seeds for future planting with these top tips.
Time for tomatoes
The majority of tomatoes are self-pollinating, with offspring that is identical to the parent plant.
You can even get creative and cross-pollinate flowers if you grow more than one variety to create a brand-new variety.
Cross pollinating tomatoes
Get started by choosing two tomato plants that you want to combine. Firstly, use your fingers or clean tweezers to remove the anthers from a new flower.
Next, the flower from the other plant can be rubbed on the stigma of the flower where the anthers were removed from.
All going well, new fruit will be produced and then the following year when you have a new set of seeds to sow, there will be a unique tomato variety for you the next year.
Save the seeds
1. Harvest the tomatoes that you want to save the seeds from when they are very ripe.
2. When harvested, cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the seeds using a teaspoon. Then add this into a shallow bowl or container of of water and leave to one side for around a week.During this time, mould will start to appear, which removes the coating of the seed. Getting rid of this coating will increase the likelihood of germination.
3. After a week, wash the seeds well in a sieve to remove all of the mould and liquid.
4. Then, on a dry piece of kitchen roll, place the seeds to let them dry out fully. When they’ve dried, store them in a paper envelope in a cool, dark spot, labelled with the plant variety and date. Then next spring the seeds can be sown to grow your next tomato harvest.
Tomatoes are a great crop to grow in the garden, whether you’re starting your gardening journey or are a keen grower. Saving your tomato seed means you can save money and make the most of the resources in your garden.
David Domoney is a Chartered Horticulturalist, Broadcaster, and Author. David has worked with a number of the UK’s leading garden retailers as a plant buyer and strategic consultant. With more than 30 years experience, in horticulture, David is as passionate about plants now as he was when he bought his first plant at a village fete.
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