My First Vegetable Seed Save with Mange Tout

Posted on 28. Jul, 2010 by Tracey in How To Grow Veg

I’ve only ever tried seed saving once before with my runner bean seeds and to my horror they became a mouldy mess in the bottom of a brown paper bag. Urgh!

Back Garden Seed Saving

This time I thought I’d try again with the Mange Tout ‘Golden Sweet’ plants which have now dried out in the sun and some expert advice from The Real Seed Catalogue.

I’ve also decided to buy the following book Back Garden Seed Saving: Keeping Our Vegetable Heritage Alive as I’m quite intrigued to know more about vegetable seed saving as I’ve always thought of seed saving as something difficult to do but I’m sure I’m about to be proven wrong when I read this book.

Saving Mange Tout Seeds

You will need:

A few dying off Mange Tout Plants,
A washing line or shed (to dry the pea pods) or leave the plant in the sun to dry,
A pot to collect the pods/seeds in,
Little plastic ziplock bags (to save the seeds in),
Sticky labels to mark what seeds have been saved.

Cutting off Mange Tout Stems

Step 1
If your plants are already dying off and the leaves have turned brown, cut the bottom of the mange tout stems close to the ground or pull them out of the ground (which ever is easiest). Then pick any dried and green pods still on the plant and put them into a pot.

Step 2
If the plants are still green or the plants are not completely dry, either in dry weather hang from a washing line to air dry or in wet weather hang upside down in a shed.

Mange Tout Seed Pods

Step 3
Take or cut the peas out of the pods. Then dry the peas in a container in a warm place. I’ve chosen on the windowsill or in the airing cupboard.

Step 4
When the peas are dried they will be brown, wrinkled and hard, place them into ziplock bags, label and store until next year.

Other Mange Tout Posts you may be interested in:

Mange Tout Rodney Mange Tout
All About Mange Tout ‘Golden Sweet’
How To Grow Mange Tout
Flowering Vegetables To Brighten Up Your Back Garden
Saving Nasturtiums Seeds - 5 Reasons Why You Should Grow Nasturtiums Near Vegetables

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Tags: back garden seed saving, beginner seed saving, collecting mange tout seeds, collecting vegetable seeds, growing mange tout, how to save seeds from mange tout, Mange Tout, mange tout golden sweet, mange tout seed saving, saving seed, seed save, vegetable seed saving

One Response to “My First Vegetable Seed Save with Mange Tout”

Whitney Price

02. May, 2011

I saved a few Russian Mammoth sunflowers and cilantro/coriander seeds from last year. This year I’ve had very productive fun visiting local seed exchanges (AKA ‘Seedy Saturday”) and swapping for other heirloom and/or organic seeds. My motivation for swapping was to avoid nonorganic and GMO-adulterated seeds, but found the local seed exchanges to have a wealth of education and community-building opportunities as well!

My favourite format was for each exchanger to label little packets of their seeds with year of harvest, name of plant, directions, and his or her name as desired. Just a few seeds, depending on the plant, are necessary–why plant several rows of red kidney beans when you can have three or four plants each of Ojo de Cabra, scarlet runner, cannelini, black eyed peas, frijoles negras, etc.? Then, when the exchanger checks in, the packets are counted and the exchanger gets credit for the number brought. The packets are filed alphabetically but categorized as “flower” or “vegetable”. A bigger exchange could even break out “Beans”, “Greens”, “Herbs”, “Squash”, etc. The exchanger then selects a number of packets of other seeds equal to what he or she brought, with more packets available for a small fee. The fees collected could be used to manage a community allotment, garden club, given to charity, or to offset the inevitable supplies–people who bring unpacketed seeds, the filing boxes, signage, etc. A few garden-fresh refreshments for sale, like tortilla chips with homemade salsa, or dried berries, dehydrated vegetables, popcorn, donated by participants, could also help offset the small costs of running the exchange.

If you don’t have a seed exchange in your area, organise one! Again, my favourite one had a lecture on the importance of seed saving, and how to go about it. It could be as big or as intimate an event as you desire. Cheers!