saving tomato seeds

Choosing seeds from a collection of tomatoes


Seeds positioned on paper towel




Hanging out to dry


Using up the pieces


My new hosts are keen to expand their knowledge of gardening and we have just been discussing seed saving. This is an easy method for saving tomato seeds that I thought I should share it with you too.

I learned this technique from Christian, one of my earlier hosts here in France and it is ideal for saving a small number seed from those precious heirloom varieties that are difficult to come by. It will not work for Hybrid varieties as they probably won’t come true the following year.

It is best to take seed early in the season from one of the first ripe tomatoes of each variety as there is minimal chance of cross pollination. If this is not an option, just choose a good ripe tomato at any time and note down its name.

Gather a roll of kitchen paper, a pen, chopping board, a good sharp knife and the tomatoes from which you want to save some seeds. Spread these out on a table or flat work surface. The seeds are saved onto sheets of kitchen paper. Take one piece of paper, decide how many seeds you want to save and divide the page accordingly. The pictures show pages of individual varieties and also divided pages with many varieties. Write the name of the tomato to one side of the sheet and choose the relevant fruit.

Slice the end off a fruit with the knife and discard the end. Still using the knife, carefully scoop out individual seeds from the inside of the tomato and place them on the paper. Leave enough space between each seed so that the paper does not become completely wet with juice or it will be very difficult to move. Continue scooping out the seed from that fruit and placing them on the paper until you have enough seed for your requirements. To reach further into the fruit, slice away empty sections of pith and skin, this makes it is easier to reach more seeds. If there are not many seeds in the fruit, select another one of the same variety and continue until you have enough seed. If you are saving multiple varieties per page, draw a line under the collection to distinguish it from the next variety.

The tomato remains can be kept and eaten just as usual. Added to a salad, sauce or soup, or discarded into the compost heap just as you decide.

Repeat until you have all the seeds that you require. Hang or lie the papers somewhere warm and dry to allow the moisture from the seeds to evaporate. The jelly around the seed will disappear and the seed will be much more visible. Once they are completely dry, the seed will have adhered to the paper quite firmly and the pages are ready to store. Keep them flat in a file or box where they will get minimal disturbance, lessening the chance of individual seeds becoming detached and put it somewhere cool, dry and dark.

Christian is an avid seed swapper and has devised a cunning way of providing small collections of each variety for exchange. Each large sheet of kitchen paper of an individual variety is divided into horizontal sections, a line of 8 or 9 seeds in each section, leafing about 1/3 of the page clear down the left hand side. When the page is dry, he sticks on a printed strip of paper with the full name of the variety and a brief description, duplicated to correspond with the number if lines of seed, on the blank area, and then, as required, each individual strip is carefully cut off and sent out to the person who wants them.

With the help of this description, and the photographs, it should be fairly easy for you to collect the seeds of tomatoes that you want to grow again, store them, share them and keep them for the following season.

tarascon and foix

A selection of photos of the towers in the towns of Tarascon and Foix, not far from Donnas. Steeped in history.......

the works

Moving on. I met Donna a few weeks ago at my first helpX host here, she appeared on various occasions with delicious desserts and bottles of wine and was good enough to take me climbing one one of my days off there. We talked about the help exchange website and before I knew it, she had signed up and now I am staying with her, just down the road from where I was to start with.

(In at the deep end. Two hours after arriving, find myself spinning and stepping around the open plan living room of her house with a group of expats in practice for a scottish ceilidh the following weekend. Rather like barn dancing, but a bit more scottish, a great way to meet people and, at the real event, wonderful to have a bit of an idea of what we were supposed to be doing. )

A smart house next to a little river at the base of the mountains, just a stones throw from the town of Tarascon and within easy reach of mountain walking, flatter valley cycling and a great location for doing absolutely nothing.

I know the house looks a bit strange, though once I found out it used to be the works depot for the local council, it suddenly looked OK again.

It is August now, and the weather is wonderful, cool mornings, warming nicely through to lunchtime, a scorching hot afternoon then pleasant evening and cool enough to sleep at night. A little siesta after lunch is a marvelous thing, just to get through the heat of the day, sandwiched between a morning of gardening and a decent cycle ride, walk or a bit of climbing later on in the day. I could get used to this in a big way.

Have enthused Donna into planting more veggies, and now that the plot if free of weeds, the whole thing should be a lot easier to look after. There was already plenty in the potager, but it appeared to have ‘got away’ somewhat and had become a task too great to attempt. Tomatoes, courgettes, raspberries, strawberries and beetroot already to be harvested. Newly sown carrots radish, lettuce, spinach, rocket, more beetroot and chard. All will be ready in good time, before the frosts of autumn arrive.

Gareth, an Ozzie helpXer and traveller, and I have fixed up some supports for the soft fruit bushes and repaired the raspberry cage. Done copious amounts of clearing and weed removing, had a couple of great bonfires and generally brought the place up to a manageable state for when we leave. Caught up on some great films. Had a great night out in the local village hall, Ceilidh style. Feasted on a constant supply of wonderful food and had a thoroughly great time with the most friendly, laid back and wonderful Scottish girl that I have ever met.

Fraud Alert

I am FINE

I have not been robbed, I need no money and all is OK here.

If you wonder what this is about, you didn't get the strange email that I appeared to send.

Someone has broken into my Yahoo account and tried to fool people into sending me money. I don't want it thankyou.

I wlll blog again soon.

Don't worry.

SAM

toulouse

For the first time this trip I have taken a few days out from the helpX thing. I enjoyed Toulouse when I stopped here for part of the day a couple of weeks ago and decided that it would be a good town to have a good look round. Plenty of history, some great gardens and easy to get around on foot. The tourist information gave me a brochure of wonderful hotels and guest houses, though unfortunately far too expensive for my budget. I went back and asked again, for a cheaper option and was given the address of one of the best hostels I have stayed in. I’m not sure why, partly because it was only a few minutes from the centre of town, secondly because it was on a nice quite street, thirdly because it was one of those times that all the inhabitants of the room got on really well from the start. Glen and Kirk from Oz, spending their savings on a nine month world tour, US, europe, west to east, down through Greece, Egypt, across to Thailand and ending up in India. Maria and Louise, Swedes with the most perfect english I have ever heard spoken, between Uni and their first jobs, a month inter railing through southern europe, and Sam, another english guy, again just finished uni and having a bit of fun before trying for the inevitable job. He had been elt down by some friends who were all going to cycle from the Atlantic, la Rochelle, across europe to Italy then into greece. They all jumped ship at the last minute so he’s going it alone, which is great. And not a word of foreign language either. Apparently the rules have changed so that people can get internships in the UK and get benefits at the same time. What an excellent idea.

I was hit by how expensive everything was, and that focussed my mind to spend as little as possible whilst seeing all that I could. The parks and gardens were free, and always interesting, for me, anyway, so I spend a day doing them on my own, the intricate plantings around the bandstand were exquisite and the most trained and clipped garden displays that I have ever seen. I loved the great covered market, the smell of it all, fresh and sharp, slightly bleachy clean, a great hall kitted out with cabinets crammed full of charcuterie, cheeses, fish, meats, breads, patisseries wines, as many and interspersed with mini bars where shoppers and traders could pop to for a swift half or shot before continuing their day. Outside, some wonderful fruit and vegetable stalls, selling to the fine restaurants and hotels of the town. They really keep to high quality produce here, and so they should, for the prices they were charging. Someone recently told me that the french spend four times more of their income than we do in the UK, no wonder it all looked so appealing. Maybe I should grow speciality vegetables here. The shops locally, specialising in fine ingredients, implements and anything cookery. These merged with classy homeware stores and fashion further away from the market. I was tempted by some really smart white bladed ceramic knives that promised to stay sharp far longer than even the best steel product. I saw the price and changed my mind. Maybe when I know that I am going to have my own kitchen to play in in the future.

Caught another free concert one evening, on the banks of the Gironne, I sat up high on a wall above the main outdoor auditorium, listening to the tunes and watching the sun go down over the sluggish river whilst the world went by. It was better up there, a cool evening breeze after the stifling heat of the town during the day and a great skyline view of the old buildings on the far side of the river. What better way to end a day in the city.

checking things out

The young girl in the tourist office asked me what I wanted to see in the town. She had already circled all the museums, churches, cathedrals, yes, two of them, and other interesting old buildings in the city, before she had asked the question. Any gardens? I asked, hoping that there may be a chateau or large residence on the outskirts with a fountain or two, and some great picture-book display of aristocratic grandeur. She paused, momentarily, chose a different colour of biro, and added another selection of circles to the town centre plan. Very good japanese gardens.... the parc de plantes, lots to see there..... garden with bandstand, very beautiful..... and a double circle for the museum of natural history, it had already been included in the previous bout of circles. Anything else? The space centre flier had caught my eye, but I had already decided that there was more than enough to keep me occupied for my stay in town, so I thanked her for all the help and information that she had provided and went outside to find a bench in the shade and make a plan for the day.

the bandstand

A truly amazing piece of horticultural art. Not particularly my cup of tea, but wonderful, enchanting and perfectly kept. All in the middle of a roundabout in the centre of toulouse. I love it.