Home » Plants & Animals » Vegetable Gardening » Storing Seed

Storing Seed

© Marie Iannotti

I hope many of you are already out there collecting seeds from your favorite plants. To insure great plants next season, choose only seed from the best plants of this season. Consider disease resistance, yield, flavor and overall plant health. Remember fruits must be fully ripened for the seeds to be mature.

Properly drying and storing seeds is crucial to their viability. There are few more frustrating disappointments for a gardener than poor germination rates. The "Vegetable Seed Savers Handbook " has a good introduction to Storing Seeds for Longevity . For a quick refesher on saving seed, read Collecting, Cleaning and Storing Seeds

.

Seeds keep best in a cool, dry place. You can store them easily in small envelopes, but it's wise to place the envelopes inside an airtight container, such as a canning jar. The folks at You Grow Girl share several good ideas for making your own envelopes. For short term storage of a year or less, you could make do with a locking plastic bag. The important thing here is that no moisture or air be allowed in. Seeds will keep even longer if kept in the refrigerator or freezer, if you have the room. To prevent excess moisture from gathering, insert small cheescloth bags of salt or powered milk.

Don't make the mistake of thinking you'll remember what the seeds are. Mark the packets with all the pertient information you'll need such as plant type, variety, original source, germination rate, season length, color, etc.

Come spring, you'll be wise to check the viability of your seed, before you count on it for your harvest. You can do this fairly easily by dampening two layers of paper towel and rolling 10-20 seeds inside them. Place the rolled paper towel in a plastic bag or plastic wrap and keep in a warm place, such as on top of the refrigerator. Check for germination every three days or so. Depending on the seed type, it may take several weeks. This is when you'll be happy you made a note of germination rate on your seed packet.

The copyright of the article Storing Seed in Vegetable Gardening is owned by . Permission to republish Storing Seed in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.