Seed-saving opens up a whole new realm of self-reliance and reduction of inputs in gardening and farming.

Couple with a dialed-in germination and seedling system for production, seed-saving can reduce garden costs and inputs incredibly.

Simultaneously, it can give you seeds which are better-adapted to your specific region and even your microclimate through generations of harvesting from the healthiest plants.

brown seed pods daikon chaff winnowing saving seed
Dried daikon pods like these can be stomped on to release the hard seeds, and then the lighter chaff can be winnowed away.

Once you learn soil-building techniques and practice water conservation, seeds & starts are one of the remaining large costs which gardeners and farmer can strive to eliminate through seed-saving.

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Before we jump into how to save garden seeds, let's talk about the common ways in which plants are pollinated and how that affects seeds and seed-saving efforts...

Self-Pollination vs. Cross-Pollination

Self-pollination is an adaptation which allows plants to reproduce even without the presence of more plants of their species. It is a form of asexual reproduction which results in less genetic variation than sexual reproduction.

For this reason, some plants only self-pollinate when the opportunity for cross-pollination doesn't present itself.

Other plants rarely cross-pollinate, and rely mainly on self-pollination instead.

For the purposes of seed-saving, it's important to be cognizant of which plants self-pollinate and which do not. This is because plants which cross-pollinate are often likely to intermix with other species in the same family.

As an example, many brassicas (plants in the brassicaceae family) will readily cross-pollinate and hybridize with one another. Your broccoli would mix with your bok choy, your kale with your collards, and your radishes could cross with your turnips. There's also increased likelihood of your cultivars within one species or variety crossing with one another in cross-pollinating species. Your Dazzling Blue kale may cross with your Dwarf Blue Curled kale, for instance.

butternut squash seeds saved cleaned and drying on paper towel
Butternut squash (Cucurbita moschata) readily crosses with its own species, meaning it may hybridize with your honeynut, honeybaby, calabaza, tromboncino, or even your seminole pumpkins if allowed to open-pollinate. Seeds saved may grow squash which does not match either parent.

While there's nothing wrong with cross-pollinated plants, hybrids, and letting nature take the wheel - you're not going to have true-to-seed stock for saving if your plants cross, and you may get weird hybrids. This is worth being aware of, especially if you plan to give your seeds away or sell them, or if you plan to breed your own species.



Which Plants Self-Pollinate?

Some plants self-pollinate and are therefore much less likely to accidentally cross with another species or variety.

Plants which self-pollinate rarely cross, so there's often no need for isolating varieties or for covering flowers to prevent pollination.

Rather, seeds collected from self-pollinating plants gives you good confidence that they'll produce the same as their parents.

Here's an incomplete list of some plants which self-pollinate:

cowpeas black eyed peas beans in shape of cacti saguaro cactus black background brown beans
Cowpeas like these black-eyed peas usually self-pollinate before their flowers fully open - making them unlikely to hybridize. These are a great candidate for seed-saving.

Have some more suggestions for plants which self-pollinate? I'd love to hear them in the comment section.

Harvesting Seeds From the Garden

Seed Harvesting Techniques

Winnowing & Threshing

Storing Saved Seeds

Testing Saved Seed Germination Rates

Check out our article on Seed Germination Rate Testing.