#FoodWasteFriday: Harvesting Seeds from Store Bought Produce
Vegetables in grocery store
There are many sources for seeds ranging from gardening stores, catalogues, online distributors, to saving your own! Many of the produce and spices regularly purchased at the grocery store can have their seeds harvested and planted to grow into new produce!
Grocery store vegetables seeds to harvest
Peppers
Tomatoes (seeds need to ferment (rot) in order to become viable)
Celery
Grocery store herb/spice seeds to harvest
Herbs and spice seeds can also be harvested and planted. Use whole seeds, not ones that are crushed or ground. The main limiting factor is age — how long have your spices been sitting on the shelf? To tell if spice seeds (or any other varieties) are still viable sprinkle them in a bowl of water. As a general rule, floaters are no longer viable; sinkers are still good.
Chives
Dill
Mustard
Caraway
Black cumin (nigella sativa)
Which seeds to use
Not all grocery store produce is created equal. There are some seeds which will not bear fruit, but many that will. As with all seed saving, it's important to use non-hybridized varieties. Hybridized means the seeds were produced in such a way that their first generation will bear fruit, but if you save seeds from that generation (for example, from a hybridized tomato at the grocery store) and plant them, they will not produce good fruit. Examples of commonly hybridized produce include squash, melons, and corn.
How do you avoid hybrids? Anything labeled heirloom is definitely not a hybrid. But there are many seeds, fruits, and vegetables which are not labeled heirloom but are in fact not hybrids and will grow robustly.
Beyond Seeds
Of course, you don't have to limit yourself to seeds. Pretty much every tuber you can buy will grow in your garden. Horseradish, Jerusalem artichoke (sunchoke), ginger, leaks, potatoes, and yams. These plants work especially well when these tubers have been sitting around for a while, have become shriveled and started sprouting roots or stems.
For excellent information on saving and planting all kinds of seeds and tubers, refer to the Carolina Farm Stewardship’s basic guide to seed saving, the Organic Seed Alliance’s detailed seed saving guide, or Suzanne Ashworth's book Seed to Seed.
