Save Money By Saving Seeds

Saving Money by Saving Seeds is admittedly one of my favorite aspects of gardening.  Gardening, on the whole, can save you a bundle if done wisely.  For the plant lover and gardening aficionado, it can also cause you to spend a bundle!  Since I personally fall into both categories.

I greatly enjoy the peaceful task of saving seeds because I can have all the flowers and vegetables I want for FREE!  Just taking a few moments each day while walking through my garden to pick spent blooms and dry and save the seeds.

SEED SAVING TIPS

• You can only save seeds that are from open-pollinated plants.  Another keyword in seed saving is the word heirloom.  These flowers and vegetables are not hybridized and will reproduce the same flowers and vegetables. No worries if you don’t know if a plant is open-pollinated or not.  Try saving the seed and see what happens.
• Let your plants go to seed.  This is especially true of vegetables.  Once the plant has gone to seed, that is the time to collect the seed to dry. I usually save seeds as a part of my Fall Gardening To-Do List.
• Start with easy flowers and vegetables.  Calendula, Cosmos, and Purple Coneflower are easy flowers to begin with.  For vegetables try beans, peas, lettuce, and tomatoes.

The picture above is from my calendula plant on my back porch.  I picked these yesterday, they are still green and need to go into a paper bag to dry.

As you can see, the next step in saving seeds is to dry the seeds.  I use paper lunch bags to dry the seeds and also shake the bag about once a week during the drying process to make sure they don’t mildew in the bag. Let the seeds dry in the paper bags for at least a month and usually more.

Here is a picture of purple coneflower seeds that are all dried and ready to be stored until it is time to plant them in the Spring.  Purple Coneflower or echinacea is a very easy plant to save seeds from.  It is a perennial, beautiful flower and you can use the root for tea to build up your immune system!

I store all my dried seeds in glass canning jars.  Why?  Well, I learned the hard way when I stored the seeds in the brown paper bags in the garage one year and mice got to them and ate all of my seeds!  I was incredibly disappointed! You do not have to use a canning jar any glass jar with a lid will do.  Start recycling baby food jars or spaghetti sauce jars to use as containers for your seeds.

The next step is to put a lid on your canning jar and label it.  Store the jars in a cool dark place.  In my case, the basement. Your climate and winter season will depend on where you decide to store the seeds.

MONEY SAVING TIP

Make your own seed packages and give your seeds away as gifts.  I have found that people really appreciate this! Download the FREE Seed Package Template, decorate, label, and tie three seed packages together with a ribbon, and Voila! You have a charming gift to get from friends and family!

DOWNLOAD THE FREE SEED PACKAGE TEMPLATE HERE

Learn more about seed-saving techniques and strategies by checking out Seed Savers Exchange.  As a nonprofit, Seed Savers Exchange aims to conserve and promote America’s culturally diverse but endangered garden and food crop heritage for future generations by collecting, growing, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants. I highly recommend them!

YOUR TURN…

How do you save money by saving seeds?

Blessings,