Harvest Seed Pods for next SeasonÕs Seeds!

Seed pods are ready to harvest once the fruit and vegetables have been taken from the plant or soil. A Seed pod contains the seeds which can save you money by providing the seeds from which to grow the next season’s fruit or vegetables. Seeds can cost a proportionately large amount of money when you have to purchase a number of different types, so saving the seeds from the current batch of fruit and vegetables can considerably cut the overheads of next year’s crop.

Seeded fruits and vegetables – and flowers – have their seed pod form within the flower, or especially in the case of fruit, sometimes these are known as the “pip” in the center.

Be careful when breaking open a seed pod. Many of them contain a lot of tiny seeds. Don’t get part of the pod, or “pip” mixed up with them – there’s also a possibility that little spiders or other bugs will be living in there so be sure to separate the seeds out slowly.

How are Seeds from the Pods Stored?

First of you need to dry the seeds by leaving them to the air for a couple of days. Wet or even damp seeds will rot. If you are taking seeds from melon or squash and they are covered in pulp, wash the pulp gently away and then leave the seeds to dry naturally. Once you have dry seeds, write the name of the fruit/vegetable on a brown envelope, and then place the seeds inside and keep these seed packets somewhere dark and dry.

If you find you have too many seeds for next season, why not start a swap club and have interested friends swap their extra seeds – perhaps there are national seed swap clubs that you could participate in.

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