It’s peak tomato season, and we're enjoying them sliced on sandwiches, chopped into salads, simmered into sauce, and canned for winter. But before you eat that perfect tomato, consider taking a moment to set aside the seeds from your biggest, best fruit.
Saving seeds now means you can grow those same delicious flavors, and maybe even improve them, year after year.
Why Save Seeds?
Heirloom tomatoes are open-pollinated, which means they’ll grow true to type from saved seed (unlike hybrids, which won’t reliably reproduce the same fruit). Saving seeds keeps special varieties going, preserves genetic diversity, and connects you to a long tradition of seed stewardship.
Here at The Farm Connection, we carry over 30 heirloom tomato varieties every season. Some of our staff favorites include Cherokee Purple, Mortgage Lifter, Chocolate Cherry, Matt’s Wild Cherry, Pink Brandywine, Mr. Stripey, Dad’s Sunset, and Amish Paste, plus so many more. Whether you’re a fan of big slicers, a cherry snacker, or somewhere between, you can grow your favorites year after year with just a few simple steps.
Choose Your Tomatoes
Pick your healthiest, most productive plants and select the largest, ripest fruit from them. Avoid fruit from diseased plants, tomato diseases can carry over in seed.
Scoop and Ferment
Slice the tomato and scoop the seeds and gel into a clean jar. Add a little water, just enough to cover. Cover the jar loosely with a paper towel or cloth and set it in a warm spot, out of direct sun. I like to band mine with either a jar ring (no flat top), or a rubber band to keep out fruit flies. Over the next 2–4 days, the mixture will ferment, a natural process that removes the germination-inhibiting gel and can help reduce seed-borne diseases. You’ll see a bit of mold on top; that’s normal.
Rinse and Dry
Once fermentation is complete, add water to the jar, stir, and let the good seeds sink to the bottom. Pour off the pulp, mold, and any floating seeds (those won’t germinate well). Repeat the rinse process until the water is clear.
Spread the clean seeds in a single layer on a ceramic plate, glass dish, or paper plate (avoid paper towels as they can stick). Let them dry completely in a cool, airy spot out of direct sunlight, stirring daily to prevent clumping. This can take up to a week.
Store for Next Season
Once seeds are thoroughly dry, store them in a labeled paper envelope or small glass jar. Keep them in a cool, dark, and dry place. Properly stored tomato seeds can remain viable for 4–6 years, though the freshest seeds tend to germinate best.
Seed Saving Tips
- Save from at least 2–3 fruits per plant to keep genetic diversity strong.
- Grow different varieties at least 10–20 feet apart to reduce cross-pollination (though tomatoes are largely self-pollinating).
- Always label your seeds right away, trust us, you’ll forget which is which by spring!
Saving seeds is one of the most rewarding parts of the gardening cycle. You’re not just keeping a variety alive, you’re carrying a piece of your summer forward into next year’s garden. In every seed is a little piece of history, sometimes even generations of it. It’s a special feeling to grow the same variety your great-grandparents might have tended, or to help keep a rare heirloom thriving for the future.
And when you bite into that first ripe tomato next season, you’ll know it came from the best of this year’s harvest. Grown, saved, and sown by your own hands.