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I seldom save seeds from our vegetables. Exceptions are:

• Beans (dry beans are easy to manage)
• Corn (from flint corn which are dried and grown in isolation from other corn)
• Leeks (once, anyway)
• One variety of tomato

Of course, the seeds I do collect are from open-pollinated varieties.

I save seeds for only one variety of tomato. It is not commercially available, as far as I know. The main reason is that this variety, TPS Golden tomato, mentioned elsewhere, has shown unusual resistance to late season blight. It's a plus that this golden is a beautiful tomato (by shape and coloring) and it has most appealing flavors.

I am selecting first for blight resistance, so I collect seeds from tomatoes on plants that have not been affected by blight and whose fruit has not been tainted. Other characteristics seem common to all the fruit, except I avoid collecting from the smallest tomatoes.

Except in the hoop house I have isolated TPS Golden from other varieties to avoid possible cross-pollination. In the future I will scrupulously isolate the Goldens.

I use a method generally recommended by master gardeners, fermenting the seeds to separate them from the gel. This:

• helps sort out bad seeds (good seeds sink, bad ones float to the top)
• reduces some seed-borne illnesses
• eliminates a germination inhibitor

Here's the procedure:

• Cut the tomato into several pieces
• Scoop out the seeds and gel into a small container
• Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water and set the container aside, out of the sun, for 3 to 5 days.
• A moldy film forms on top. That’s okay.

To separate the seeds:

• First carefully remove the film.
• Add more water and stir (good seeds have sunk)
• Carefully pour off the water and the floating bits of pulp (repeat until all the pulp is gone and you have clean seeds)
• Drain them as well as possible (using a paper towel helps)
• Spread them in a single layer on a screen or a paper plate to dry. (The medium needs to wicked away the moisture. Seeds tend to stick to a paper towel but don’t use a plastic or ceramic plate.)

I leave the seeds to air dry for a couple of weeks. Then I put them into a paper envelope and store in a cool, dry, well ventilated place.

I don't generally save seeds because:

• Most must stay planted long after I am preparing my garden for the next season
• Many are easily affected by cross-pollination with other varieties
• Some dry out only very slowly in the cloudy, humid conditions of fall and winter
• In most cases it is more trouble than it is worth
• Often plants gone to seeds are unsightly
• A variety of professionally grown, open pollinated seeds are available and relatively inexpensive

Some of the above are reasons why I don't take locally saved seeds at a seed exchange. (I still remember the “turnip seeds” that were a really a mixture a radish and who knows what!)