I’ve been sowing some new plants ready for next season. I walked to the bed where the current plants are flowering, found seed at the right stage, picked it, sowed it & by Saturday it had germinated. The plants are now growing away nicely. Seed miles = 0

We're sold the idea that big companies can do everything better than we can, that seed in packets with cheery photos or stylish line drawings is better than what we can produce in our gardens or plots. It's just not true. The best, freshest seed is that grown nearby and sown when it's ready on the plant. Our own seed has been grown in our particular soil and environment. Each new crop grown is minutely adapted to its growing conditions and can bring with it strength and diversity.

There are no mysteries to saving your own seed, it’s just common sense.

Take seed from the best, healthiest plants you have. You want the very best characteristics to be passed on.
Pick a dry airy day. If there’s been a dew, wait till it’s all dried off
Take something to put your seed into. Paper bags or boxes are good, just make sure the seed can’t drop through
Collect the seed from the plant into your container. Label it - don’t think you’ll remember!
Place in a cool, dry space to dry off a little more. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. Or sow straight away, particularly for perennials.

Will your own seed produce plants the same as the parent? If it’s what is called a straight species, with a two-word Latin name and no cultivar name eg Orlaya grandiflora, Scabiosa ochreleuca, then it will almost certainly be identical, with only occasional variants.

If it has a variety or cultivar name eg Phlox drummondii Creme Brulee or Calendula Snow Princess, then what you get from your own seed can vary. If it’s been open pollinated (bees and other insects can pollinate, plus the wind can get to the plants) it might grow as a mix of the shapes and colours of that plant you have growing. Over the years, the dominant form of the plant is likely to eventually come through. A good example of this is poppy seed, which gradually reverts to red, but goes through all sorts of lovely combinations on the way. If you hand pollinate the plant and protect it from other pollinators, there’s a chance it is more likely to keep the characteristics you want.

As well as having seed for your own uses, you can share it around, give it to a pal, take some to a seed swap. There’s nothing like the joy of planting out a whole batch of plants grown from your own or gifted seed!