So are Heirloom the only seeds to save?

 Good morning!  Well it's morning here anyway.  Not sure exactly when you're catching a glimpse of this, but still....

So how yall doin?  How's yer Mama?  How's you're family?  

My mom is doing well now.   She had a nasty bout with Shingles that lasted over 5 weeks!  UGH!  As for our family, we're doing well.  Rubic is on two feet at last, albeit with a walker.  That won't last long.  He won't need the walker in a week or so I bet.  

I'd like to say that's going to free up time for me, but it probably won't.  Not only is this the busiest time of year for me, but because Rubic had his wreck due to a seizure; he can't drive for 6 months.  So I will be taking him to every Doctors Appointment, Physical Therapy, etc.  Once he gets back to work, unless he can work from home, I will be taking him there as well.  This is just temporary, and I'm happy to do it.   Before I quit my job and came home, I had a co-worker ask if I thought I'd be bored.  I told her I didn't think so, and I was right.  I've always had a lot to keep me busy.  

SO!  Now that the chit chat is out of the way, lets talk about the topic at hand:  Saving seeds from year to year!

I've always been told that ONLY Heirloom, open pollinated seeds can be saved from year to year.  This statement made things confusing when I'd see a volunteer non heirloom plant from the year before.  I'd let it live in the garden anyway.  My motto is if you made it thru winter you deserve a spot.  It would produce true to parent, most of the time.  I will say once we ended up with a weird Franken Veggie, but that was it.  

I will ask this of seed producers: Isn't it a bad business model to have to recreate your product(hybrid seeds) every year rather than them recreating themselves?  Also, if Heirloom seeds are the only ones that can recreate themselves, why do they cost more?  I saved seeds from ONE Heirloom Kale plant last year and had so many seeds; I was giving them to everyone I met, just about.  I still have  more than enough seeds for many gardening seasons into the future.  

Can you say Marketing Maybe? That's what I'm thinking.  Heirloom is the new buzz word to get people to fork over more money.

Years ago I'd bought speckled lima beans at a feed store.  I didn't save the seeds; they weren't Heirloom, but nature saved them for me I guess, and they kept coming back every year.  Finally last year I purposely set aside 100 seeds from these plants.  I planted a few to see how they would do, and now look at the plants below!

Next are Pepper plants from seeds saved from a store bought pepper

That's not grass.  It's wheat from wheat berries I purchased last year

What potatoes I have this year were planted from store bought potatoes that had sprouted in the pantry. 

Year before last I bought cow peas from tractor Supply; non heirloom.  Last year I decided to save seed to see how they would do.  I planted some recently and here ya go:

I've replanted watermelons seeds from store bought watermelons, store bought pinto beans, and popcorn as well.  What do you have to lose?  Nothing!

As a result of my past experience, I've come to these conclusions:

A)  Non Heirloom seeds can also be saved for future use IF they aren't hybrid.  

B)  Hybrid seeds can still be saved for experimental reasons.  If they produce well the following season, then keep saving them.  Just be prepared to have a Franken veggie, cause that might happen.  No harm no foul.  The seeds were free!   If they produce true to their parent, then save them again for the next year.  A plus for saved seeds is you can be liberal in planting.  They're free!  You'll get a lot of seeds from saving them.  More than enough to keep you in seeds for a good while; especially if saved every year.  I've already started saving my butternut squash seeds rom my harvested squash from last year.  This year I plan to save everything I can.  Free works for me! 

So have you ever tried this?  How were your results?