In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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September 5, 2007

Saving tomato seeds

The tomatoes I’ve missed over the season have fallen to the ground. I’m noticing tomato seedlings, especially under the cherry tomatoes, already. Unfortunately, the cherry tomato is a hybrid, which means it’s a cross between two other tomatoes. If you plant the seed, it will likely revert back to one of the parent tomato plant types. Or it could be something totally unexpected, and not necessarily desirable, prolific or delicious. So if you want to save seed, you need to grow open pollinated, non-hybrid varieties of vegetables.

The heirloom tomatoes in my garden are perfect for saving seed. Tomatoes are self-pollinating, so I don’t have t worry about them being pollinated by the neighbor’s tomatoes.

There are two schools of thought for saving tomato seeds.

The traditional method is to wait until the tomato is really ripe, past its prime for eating, soft and squishy and splitting. You’ scoop out the seeds, and put them in a container for a few days to ferment. And ferment they will. They’ll get a frothy, scummy covering on the top. Next step is to rinse that off, getting the seeds clean, and then spreading them on a paper towel to dry. Once dry, package them, label them and store them in a cool, dark place until next year.

Then there are the tomato seed savers who simply scoop out the ripe seeds, clean them, dry them and store them. No scum. No fermenting.

Both sides say their method works well.

So why not try saving tomato seeds and growing your own starts next year?

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