GnuTux wrote:
2-ton wrote:
My favorite tomato is Eva Purple Ball, it is an open pollinated heirloom, so they re-seed themselves every year.
How does that work? Do you do anything special to save the seeds?
I do save seed every few years, just in case I need them. But near the end of the season I just let one tomato ripen and rot in the tomato bed, and since it's a raised bed that is far away from the rest of the garden, I know that the volunteers that come up in the spring are those tomatoes. Open pollinated means they grow true to type, unlike hybrids that can all be different, depending on the parentage. To save seed, you take an over-ripe tomato and squeeze the seed stuff into a glass, and then I take a piece of cloth and tied it over the top to keep bugs out. Set it someplace like a garage, out of the sun, but somewhere that the odor won't bother you. Leave it for days, maybe even a week, until there is scum on top and a clearish whey liquid under the scum. The seeds will be on the bottom. Then you drain the scum and whey off, but don't let the seeds slip out, add water, drain, add, drain, add, until the water is clear and the seeds look clean. Dry the seeds on a dish and store. They can last for years.