Kitchen Garden Forum

I love rocket. As i cannot use what I have sown quickly enough a lot of it has gone to seed. The seed pods are green . Is it possible to save the seed for future sowings and do I have to wait until the seed pods dry out to do this.
Regards Brenjon

Why bother to save it. A packet will last for many years. I have taken to sowing in modules, even single seeds grow into big plants when grown that way.
Allan

Hi Brenjon,
I see absolutely no reason why you shouldn't save your own seed but you would have to allow the seed to go throught its complete life cycle.
If you were to plant them too early the embryo of the seed would not be complete and germination would be very difficult or impossible. I feel that it is a case of saving your seed but allowing them to complete their ripening process on the plant and then using them next year.

Thank you for that explanation Johnboy. Can you explain this . I took some seeds from a tomato, a plum one that i liked the taste of, bought from a supermarket in February this year.I planted them within a day of taking them out of the tomatoe and now they are producing wonderful tomatoes that we are now eating. This goes against what you have said about allowing the seeds to go through the ripening process and planting them next year, perhaps you have the answer to this. I await your reply with interest.
Regards Brenjon

I would conclude that what goes for rocket doesn't go for tomato seeds. They aren't in the same family for a start. I would not try to save seeds from any member of the brassica family as they are too closely related and could cross-pollinate. Tomato seeds are extrordarily easy to save viable seeds from, even from immature fruit. If you put the unwanted fruit in the compost it comes up the next year as unwanted plants but these in turn are easily cleared for composting, a sort of benign weed. Just don't try to grow from seed of F1 hybrid tomatoes. One of the joys of Gardeners Delight is that it isn't F1 so as I have stumbled across a good strain I have stocked up on seeds.

Thank you Allen that explains it perfectly.
Regards Brenjon

Hi Brenjon,
To prove your point with Tomatoes I took a very ripe Gardeners Delight and seperated and cleaned the seed.
I put 12 in the propagator at about Midnight of the 6/7th and this morning they are well germinated all 12. This proves that Tomato seeds complete the growth of their embryo immediately whereas other seeds do not and need what is called a period of conditioning.

Yes, Johnboy, I have had similar experience with seeds of Outdoor Girl. I collected them from one fruit the summer before last, dried them on kitched towel before storing them in the fridge. The plants came up excellently the following spring and fruited well, but this year the fruits have been rather small. I don't know if the variety is an F1 hybrid or not, but I think I'll try a different variety of medium-sized tomato next year.

mike