Save Seeds from your Favourite Flowers

Saving seeds from your own garden has many advantages. Replanting the seeds can yield plants best suited to your climate and soil conditions, and, over time, strong characteristics can develop, such as larger plants and resistance to diseases and pests.

What to look for:
Once you have selected the most vigorous, colourful and scented flowers mark them with a piece of bright twine or string on their stems, so you will know later which seeds you've chosen to collect. Most perennials should be sown immediately, but you can also store the seeds of the more vigorous perennials in a packet in cool, dry conditions for spring planting.

When to collect:
Although you can collect seeds from spring through the autumn, keep in mind that it may be several weeks after the flowers fade before the seeds are ready for harvesting. For example, seed pods are ready for harvesting when they are dry and brittle, but before they break open.

Always choose dry, sunny days - after the dew has evaporated - to do your seed collecting. The seeds must be ripe so that they will germinate, and you have to catch them before they fall to the ground.

When the seed pods turn brown and are completely dried, shake the seeds out of each pod onto a piece of paper. Blow gently on the seeds to remove the chaff.

Storing seeds:
When saving dried seeds, they need to be stored properly in a cool, dry place until planting time in the spring. Put them in their packets into sealed, moisture-proof containers in the fridge or freezer - the lower the temperature, the better. If seeds are stored dry and are well-sealed, they will keep for several years.

Irish Seed Savers Association - www.irishseedsavers.ie

The Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland (RHSI) and the Irish Garden Plant Society (IGPS) run seed exchange programmes each year, as do the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Joining these societies will give you free access to a vast range of seeds from other members.

The Dermot O'Neill Online Seed Packet

Make your own seed packet from Dermot O'Neill Online.

Autumn is a great time to collect your own garden seed. You can save money by doing this and also preserve a favourite variety of vegetable or flower. This seed packet pattern is a useful way of storing your seed, helping you keep a record of the plant name, its origin and the date of seed collection.

Click here to download the template.

(Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

• Simply download the template by right-clicking the link and selecting "Save target as...".
• Print out as many copies of the template as you need. You might consider using several paper colours to organize your collection. For example, use one colour for annual flowers, another for perennials flowers and another for vegetables.
• Next, carefully cut out the pattern just inside the line.
• Then along the lines provided fold over the back of the seed packet, followed by the side and bottom flaps. Use gum to glue the bottom and side flaps to the back of the seed packet.
• Once you've filled the packet with seeds, fold over the rounded top flap and secure it with gum.