Gathering tomato seeds is not as scary as it might sound. After growing a few different varieties you may find one that you like so much, that you want to ensure you will always be able to have the seeds to grow your own at home without the risk of the shop your bought them from not stocking them next year.
All you need to do is take a few simple steps and you can guarantee that next year you will have the same tomatoes that have enjoyed in the past and without having to hunt down elusive seeds.
Firstly, we need a few bits and pieces to enable us to gather those seeds, namely, a tomato. Pick one that is ripe from a disease free plant.
You will need a bowl, a sieve, some water and some paper towels.
Slice the tomato in half and scoop out the seeds with as little ‘jelly’ as possible. Then drop them all into the sieve which is sat in the bowl of water. Carefully swirl the seeds around and keep changing the water until all the seeds are clean and free of jelly.
Lay them out carefully on the paper towel to dry, taking care to make sure that none of the seeds are touching each other. Now, you may find after they have dried that they are stuck to the paper towel. Do not panic! This is actually a good thing.
Now you can fold the paper towel and slide it into a brown envelope or sealable plastic bag until you are ready to sow them, then you can simply lay the paper towel onto some soil outside, or cut out a square (or circle… or even a triangle) containing however many seeds you want, and lay that onto some soil in a pot or propagator, then sprinkle some soil on top, water, and wait for them to germinate.
