Seed Saving at Nursery View


For some reason when NAH booked Nursery View cottage for our holiday, I didn't twig it meant a garden nursery. Here it is - the window you can see straight ahead was our kitchen window. With this view in reverse, suddenly washing up didn't seem such a chore after all.

Our hosts gave us the run of the tomatoes which ran down the whole of one side - you can just see some of them at the top right of the picture. There was nothing better at the end of a day's activities to go and pick some for our our tea.


One of the varieties merited special attention. This thin skinned lemon yellow plum tomato had a juicy, sweet flavour which burst into the mouth. It was more like drinking than eating.

The owners couldn't remember its name, saying it's nowt special. They saved the seed from a ripe tomato they were given onto a piece of kitchen roll and have been growing and saving ever since. As it's worked so well for them, I've saved some too :)

Update: Not all tomato seed can be saved so easily and I know my simple way will work because it has already for the cottage owners. Patrick from Bifurcated Carrots shows the foolproof way in a guest post he wrote for The Guardian Gardening blog a while ago. I'll be keeping the kitchen roll dry in my seed tin over the winter and using it in a similar way to seed tape next year.

Comments

  1. Helen25 September 2012 at 16:24

    Oooo, lucky. What a find by NAH!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anna25 September 2012 at 16:25

    How considerate of NAH and what a lovely surprise for you. I have collected some tomato seeds on kitchen towel already this year. Just hope that I remember its contents come spring and don't end up throwing them out in error :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. VP25 September 2012 at 16:26

    Hi Helen - I think he was surprised to have found something so suitable for me!

    Love your new glasses BTW :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. VP25 September 2012 at 16:27

    Hi Anna - I've written on the corner of mine so I don't forget.

    ReplyDelete
  5. petoskystone26 September 2012 at 15:14

    Sweet link! Thank you. Will be trying to scope out some yellow tomatoes from the farmers' market. I used red plum tomatoes to put up some jam this year, but have read that the yellow is better suited.

    ReplyDelete
  6. VP26 September 2012 at 16:11

    Petoskystone - so glad the link's timely and useful :) Patrick's method is especially useful if your tomato seed can't be separated easily from its surrounding 'jelly'. It lessens the risk of the seed going mouldy and is ideal if you're wanting to store the seed in little paper packets. If you're wanting to swap seeds, then of course this method also reduces the likelihood of passing on diseases etc. via the seed

    My yellow tomato seeds separated very easily from its 'jelly' and as they're just for me, I'm happy to use the quick approach outlined.

    ReplyDelete

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