I'm a veggie seed saver, but sadly it has only been with tomatoes and peppers. So I suppose I'm of no help to you. Like you, I want to cut down on my veggie seed bill so I'm excited to hear what advice you get.

TheInfamousJ, I was able to save 1 each type each of lettuce, an aisian green, leeks, tomatoes, peppers, peas and beans by using an area in my front flower bed.( my garden is in the back yard) This way I did not have to bag any blossoms to keep the seed pure. So far I have only germinated the lettuce and aisian greens , and the germination is so much better than store bought seeds I am amazed.
If you do a web search on seed saving you'll find tons on it.

Why of course! The last of the Sugar Snap Peas were left on the vines; when the Mustard greens bolted, I left one plant to bloom, Black seeded Simpson lettuce actually is quite pretty in bloom. I treat nasturium as a veggie BTW. If you want a lot of seed from them, pinch off the main stem and it will put out several stems to blossom. With the price of seed becoming outrageous; every bit helps.

am new but have 2 diff kinds of corn
and 2 diff kinds of green beans
need some diff for my collection,,
preferably flowers,,,just let me know
Thanks,
Tabatha

This weekend I boght a pumpkin just to get the seeds from it =) Its a neat hybrid, hope the seeds come true! I also collect seeds from my own pumpkins, pole beans, peppers, etc.

Hi there, I save from beans, peas, lettuce, rocket, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, radish. Beans and peas are so rarely crossed that I don't bother with isolation, just save seeds from plants in the middle of a bunch. Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants I bag. Broccoli, Chinese cabbage and radish I only let one variety of each go to seed at a time. They're different species so won't cross with each other easily. Lettuce and rocket I just let self seed. Different lettuces rarely cross so I don't worry about it.

Ashworth's Seed to Seed on the SSE website is supposed to be awesome, about veggies. helps to know how many of each plant you need to keep inbreeding depression from happening (I think its bad with cole crops). Saved lettuce seem just fine tho. Beans mostly self-pollenate, and you can choose different seed colors each year, so you know you got a cross if the seed is funny....

I'm saving eggplant seeds this year. I am unsure what the variety is, as the parent plant was given to me, but it is a small eggplant, and a beautiful pale green color. The fruit gets to perhaps 5-6", which is perfect, if there are only 2 people at the dinner table.

I also have saved seeds from my Asparagus beans, lettuce, tomato, pepper, celery, and broccoli. Oh, yes, and gourds. I have tons of gourds! LOL

Janie

I let 2 different lettuces bolt and collected the seed. They sprouted much faster than what I'd bought and I got a LOT of seed from only 2 or 3 plants of each. The pole beans did real well and I let 20 dry on the vine. Once again a lot of seed - much more than what I bought. I'll find out about the spouting in the spring.

The cilantro bolted quickly and I got a bunch of seed. Tomatoes did well and I have a bunch of those as well. Those were harder to clean. 1st ferment them for 3 days in a glass of water, then rinse and dry. They've sprouted ( a few as an experiment)

What else... - oh yeah, Cayenne did just great. Dry the pepper whole and crumble out the seeds. Works great.

Corn. My cohort ordered some tall corn which grew to over 12 feet and each produced 2 or 3 ears. This is not a sweet corn. We left them on the stalk until they could be popped off the stem at the base. This leaves the husk on the stalk. Of the 25 or so plants we got about 10 pounds of kernels, two thirds of which are well shaped and should grow next year.

I let 2 onions bloom and dried the mature flowers. The seeds came out easily when crushed. We let some radishes go as well and dried the pods. Crushing them released the seeds and I blow out the chaff. Easy, free and in every case a LOT of seeds.

I started with all heirloom seed from Seeds of Change, so things should go well next year.

Dave

This statement was kind of funny, if you are sure it's a hybrid then it is a gamble what you'll get: "Its a neat hybrid, hope the seeds come true" I have had adventures, though, in letting pumpkins and squash grow together and then planting the seed. I had the coolest green and orange striped pumpkins one year.

I save heirloom tomatoes plus beans, lettuce, cilantro, parsley, pumpkins, squash, parsley, onions, even garlic 'seed.' One set of pumpkins, after the third year the seeds were sterile I remember. I saved eggplant seeds this year from an enormous eggplant.

I grow vegies from seed not just by saving them, but by being a lazy gardener. I had a good broccoli crop this year by letting last year's go to seed. I moved some small plants to a suitable spot and they have done well. I also find that the lettuce that 'grows itself' from seed usually does better than what I grow, because it starts at the optimally correct time I suppose.

I tend to save bean seed mainly because there are some beans I miss when picking, and next thing you know you have some seeds. Radishes I let go to seed because that is supposed to repel bugs, but I find that the radishes from seed aren't very good. Probably hybrid parents I am guessing. Oh, and I mentioned on gardenweb that I saved tomatillo seeds from tomatillos I bought at the store, and grew them. Some Canadians wrote to me and asked if they could buy seeds from me. I sold them some, but it was funny because anyone can just buy a tomatillo and save the seeds themselves.

Marcia

I let a hybryd asian cabbage go to seed this year and it did not come true. But the greens that I get from the seeds are great in salads so I will use them in my green house and cold frame for early and late greens. The gernination is not bad and they get to a good size fast. i guess if I wanted to i could use them for salad sprouts too.

I started my gardening as a vegetable grower. It wasn't until into my twenties (I am 41) that I got interested in flowers. I do try to save as many veggie seeds as possible. I have saved beans, brocolli, lettuce, peas, tomatoes, spinach. I am trying carrots this year. I hope there was enough difference in distance and time between them and the local Quenn Anne's Lace. I did not bag the seed heads. I tried to save seed potatoes--had some nice little ones left over--but they began to sprout in the closet, so we ate them. I like Nancy Bubel's book, "Seed Saver's Handbook", and I have just started reading "Seed to Seed". There's lots of info in both, and the books are set up so they can be used as reference guides, jumping in at any point in the writing. I cannot keep viability tables and which are easy to cross-pollinate and which are not.
Good Luck,
Robin

Hi here in South Carolina I save seed as well---white egg- plant, 3 kinds of peppers, butterbeans, collards and kale, 3 kinds of okra, yellow straight neck squash and several kinds of tomatoes. It's fun trading seeds and trying new seeds. Dale

A book you may want to buy is called 'Seed to Seed' by Suzanne Ashworth. I just got it and am looking forward to using it a lot! It will tell you what crosses with what in the garden, isolation distances, techniques for seed saving, etc. Great book. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed to Seed