I love - *LOVE* - saving seeds. It feels good to grow food, but to know you saved seed so that you can grow *more* food, and from the food you grew before. Great stuff. Thanks Rob Bob

great episode rob! I love saving seeds, it is always so rewarding. It is just a bummer that you can't eat a lot of the things that you let go to seed, they either get mushy, or bitter, or really woody.

This video was really what I was looking for. I have a wonderful kind of zuchini/squash from Turkey, which is white and delicious in Turkish dishes. I've allowed one fruit to grow to an enormous size and hope that I can use your technique to get a new supply of seeds for the future. It's amazing that the plant grows so well in northwestern Europe.

I think you just make your chicken's day, Rob! Zucchini seeds are so easy to save and I like to use my huge zucs to save the seeds and then shred it up to use in muffins. I freeze what I can't use right away and I've been using it all winter to make zuc/banana choc. chip muffins. Kids don't even know there's zuc in them!

I absolutely LOVE the fact that a pro like you was unsure about the type of zucchini you had. I can relate because i had a volunteer plant come up in my front yard garden bed which i identified as some sort of zucchini, squash, pumpkin, gourd, etc.... vine. I transplanted it into a big pot and let it go, just to see what it was. A couple of months later I have fruit on the vine almost ready to pick, but I'm still not sure about what it is!! Could be a pumpkin, could be a squash, maybe even just a gourd! I think it is some sort of squash so when it turns completely orange I am going to cut it in half and see what I have. Plant identification is challenging from what I've tried to learn in the past. I was part of a 'survival prep group' a few years ago and decided to learn about identifying edible plants in the wild. I discovered a field of botany so complex that you would need to get a degree in it to fully understand what you are dealing with!! Anyway, thanks Rob, I enjoyed getting back into the gardening game and finding your helpful videos to move me along to a spectacular garden!

Thanks for the video, as a beginner gardener I now know I need to let a few grow longer to harvest seeds!

Tnx for vid, I've seen some others where they've been harvesting the vege while it's still green. But seeing how you do it looks better, for one the seeds look more plump and healthy.

I made the mistake of trying to dry squash seeds in a plastic zip bag and the moisture made them rot. Love your channel Mate! You are a nice human being! Pleasure sharing Earth with you!

Really enjoyed the video. I think that the variety of Zucchini you have is called Costata Romanesca. I discovered this type on a trip to Nova Scotia two years ago. This summer my wife and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary in Italy. The supermarkets pretty much exclusively had this variety of zucchini , unlike the states where we have primarily smooth skin types.

i'm doing the same thing... left the biggest fruit on one plant to dry out and collect seeds from. Nice to see what it looks like when it's ready to harvest the seeds.

I checked this out so I can grow more of a cushaw I bought at the farmers market. I love squash cause you can cook anything with it and it's a huge amount of food for next to no effort.

Hi *****.. I haven't tried saving seeds from store bought as we don't see many varieties & the ones we do get like the patty pan squash are harvested when they are young.. I know that that some of the acorn & butter nuts (we call the butter nuts a pumpkin here for some reason) should be OK to save seeds from as they as left to mature on the vine.. Hope that helps some..

thanks worked well on my 2ft long Zuchinin

Thanks Mate! Most informative!! Cheers from Northern California (NorCal)

Nice tip! I will be growing squash next season. It will be my first attempt growing them, so if they mature I now know how to prosess the seeds from them. :) Had me a good laugh when I noticed one of the chickens was eye-following every move you made. Lol.. Cheers, Halvor.

Thanks Rob that was super helpful!

I could not find any marrow seeds local to where I live and I only had one good one left in an old packet. I had let a morrow grow last year until it was well past it's time. I didn't even bother to remove it. When I picked it up the spring it was very light and rattled. I threw all the seeds into an 8 inch pot hoping one or two might grow. OOPS! If I planted every one I would have to include the roof of the house, there are dozens. I also didn't pick up a few odd tomatoes, same thing. I'll grow a few and see what happens.

Thank you so much for sharing!!!

Very nice and informative video, thank you!

Nice and short and helpful video. Thank you!

Love cocozelle and thanks for the info. My New York garden thanks you! Bloody hell!

This answered my question

I noticed the plant with the large fruit I left on hasn't produced anymore flowers while my other plants that I've been harvesting squash from are still producing flowers even though they are finishing out their growing season.

My son and I kid each other by saying ," Robert is your dad's brother ". Just some fun. I do enjoy you videos . thanks.... TTFN

My zucchini never made it to seed as we always eat them... lol. I didn't realize if you let them grow so long they would seed like that. Thanks.

Thanks

I have been doing the same with my cucumbers, they are going yellow so quickly... ( The Gherkin Variety ) Great Vid as always Rob! :)

As always great tips Rob!

Hahahahaha. Miss chookie was watching your every move hoping to get some tea

Great video Rob! I have left one of the 3 variety cucumbers in yard and will be collecting the seeds the same way :)

The seeds look very similar to the one a u get at the shop to munch on!

I pretty much just let my zuccini cross-polinate with whatever. One or three plants may come out stunted, but have 5+ of them and there will be edible fruit, no matter what.

Thanks for the video.

I learn a lot from you. Now I want to know can I leave my marrow or pumpkins or zucchini in the garden in winter months? I will cover it with a polithin with hole , to save it put on a tool to prevent from wet soil.

Hi, my courgette (not F1) looked exactly like yours when I harvested it, yellow and rock solid but the seeds are small and empty, why is this? Is it something to do with pollination? Thanks!

I have a few seeds germinating in a mason jar on my windowsill. I had no idea zucchini plants were so massive

How do you store them after they have dried? In the freezer? In a bowl in the cupboard?

If the seeds are still soft, even from a very large zucchini, will they not be good as seed next year?

After I glean the seeds I cut the rest up in little pieces and feed it to my worm bin.

About the same with cucumber, Which I well be doing in about a week if all goes as planned. lol

Question - I dried my seeds on a plate for about a week. However they are pretty shriveled and almost hollow looking. They don't look plump like if I bought a packet of seeds. Will they still germinate and produce?

I only did one plant last year still couldnt eat em all and there are 5 of us. I will be trying some of the butternut squash seeds although I do not know if f1 or not never did find the seed pack. See what we get. Dave

Thank you. This is not an easy topic to look up on the internet. Probably to support commercial farming.. Thats okay though

Did I just see you in the comments of hunting with Stu?

Also.. seeds that float to the top of the water during fermentation are considered bad.

999 view's when I clicked to watch :)

Cheers Rob, Thank you for the video. 4 Zucchini plants and one has been a super producer...last one was picked from the super producer just yesterday while the lazier plants have only begun to produce. Getting close to frost time here in North America. After learning what I have from you...should I try to encourage the producer to give me on last vegetable for seed reasons and if I can't, any suggestions?

So if the seeds don't float I shouldn't use them? I can also try with the next fruit and let it grow longer but it was large and hard skin so assumed it was okay.

Bees never pollinate the zucchini so they're small and starting to rot... I can't get seeds from them correct?

How do I know when a zucchini marrow is mature enough to save seeds from it? Thanks

Hi there thx 4 the video. do you think if i get some zucchinis from the shop and take seeds out like you did wld they grow back? thx

Can I still use zucchini flesh for breads or do they have to be over mature to save the seeds?

Hi. I have black jack zucchini grown from seed. Are these hybrid? I have dried the seeds. hoping they will grow. I just don't know how to tell a hybrid seed

I thought your supposed to ferment the seeds for 2 days then dry them for 4 or they look dry in warm area then store. It says to do this also with tomato seeds.??

Question for you. I saw at the end that you fed some of the pulp to your chickens. I was thinking of growing squashes primarily for chicken feed. In your opinion/experience do they do well with large amounts of it?

Does the zucchini have to turn yellow?

Hi...what is the reason seeds should be dried away from sunlight?some people say its okay alot of people also say better to keep seeds away from sunlight?also..how long are the seeds viable for?thank you

Thank you for sharing this. My fruit softened and rotted before I could save the seeds. Will the seeds still be viable? Just wondering if you have had any experience with older seeds from rotted fruit? I will still try but any thoughts?

What should i do i have a Z1 hybrid courgette, green, very big been on the vine about 5 weeks but still green however the slugs have damaged quite a bit of the skin 😭 should i pick it now and hope the seeds have matured, or wait and hope it doesnt rot? Can i pick it and leave it to mature on the window for a week or two, or will it make no difference?

zucchini, pumpkin, and squash are actually different varieties of the same plant. cucurbita pepo

Hello, I'm about month into already harvesting my zucchini and squash would you say it's too late to let one go to maturity for seed? Or, can you harvest from younger fruits? It's my first year having my own garden so I'm new to most of this. I did harvest melon seeds and tomato seed from store bought with so far great result! So, I'm excited to do more. Thank you for your videos, I've been watching all day (can't do much outside in the thunderstorm).

I tried to save zucchini this year but got very few and none of them mature. Had to order more. Don't understand how a zucchini almost 50 centimeters couldn't have seeds in it.

Did you ever try to keep seeds from the squash bought in the store and try to grow it?

Do u freeze them?

The way I usually do it is let them pop up in the compost but I guess that is not really the right way to do it :)

Hi Do you hand pollinate to keep your seeds pure?

By allowing one of the zucchini's to grow to that size, will the rest of the plant stop producing? We have a small garden and we generally pull plants once they stop producing to gain more growing space but I'd also like to start saving some seeds from year to year. I know those are probably mutually exclusive goals. :-)

Hi Rob, I collected the seeds, dryed them out and stored them in a envelope, 1 month on and just checked them and they have all shrunk and very thin like there is nothing inside them at all. Someone said they could be sterile, is it normal for seeds to loose all their weight?

The larger the zucchini the less flavor I've heard

Do you not have any problems with cross pollination? I was under the impression that cucurbits crossed pretty readily?

I think that you have to be wary, no one hits upon this. You can end getting your fertilized by other squash that are ornament and a bit toxic. I prefer to buy my courgette seeds from a reputable seller. Seen news items where people have gotten very sick eating even home grown courgettes from seeds from garden centres.

Thanks for the video.l love....l like to your video.l studied how about that saved zucchni seeda.can you give me some zucchini seeds.G.L.A.Kumari no 20.sarvoodaya road new town lunugamwehera .sri lanka

Cross polination dude! Thanks for this video, but you'll be very lucky to have sure phenotype traits without isolating the females from polinating insects. No?

Ok,I seriously need to know what that song is..! BITCHIN!!!!!

Well I dont agree with everything you say...

How do you store them after they have dried? In the freezer? In a bowl in the cupboard?