Garden in a Bag™ - The Self-Reliance Gardening™ Display Built for Retail

A ready-to-sell 2027 seed display, customizable by region.

Inside the Garden in a Bag™ Collection

Garden in a Bag™ Retail Display Program

Add regional seeds to your Self-Reliance Gardening™ core collection

Regional Options

The Self-Reliance Gardening™ Approach

Self-Reliance Gardening™ Guide

Planting & Growing Your Garden in a Bag™

Saving Seeds From Your Garden in a Bag™

Every Garden In a Bag™ collection is grown from open-pollinated heirloom seed, which means, unlike hybrid varieties, the seed you save this year will grow true to type next year. Seed saving is the foundation of Self-Reliance Gardening™: grow once, and you'll always have fresh, healthy seeds for future seasons.

Selecting Healthy Plants

Start with your strongest, most true-to-type plants; not the first ones ready to harvest, and not the ones struggling with pests or disease. The plant you save seed from passes its traits to next year's crop, so it pays to be selective. Look for plants with good vigor, typical size and color for the variety, and no signs of disease. For cross-pollinating crops (like squash, corn, or many flowers and brassicas), save from several healthy plants rather than just one.  This keeps the seed line genetically diverse and productive over time.

Allowing Seeds to Mature

Seeds need more time on the plant than the vegetable does for eating. A cucumber picked for the table is harvested young and green; a cucumber left for seed needs to grow large, dull, and yellow. The same is true across the board — beans and peas should rattle dry in the pod, lettuce and herbs need to fully bolt and flower, and fruiting crops like tomatoes and peppers are picked for seed at full, often overripe, maturity. Rushing this step is the most common reason home-saved seed fails to germinate.

Harvesting Seed at the Correct Stage

• Dry-seeded crops (beans, peas, lettuce, brassicas, most flowers, herbs, and grains): wait until pods, seed heads, or flower heads are fully dry and brittle on the plant, then harvest before they shatter and drop seed on their own.

• Wet-seeded crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, melons): harvest the fruit when fully ripe (past the point you'd normally eat it), then scoop out the seed and pulp for processing.

• Harvest on a dry day whenever possible — seed collected in damp conditions is more prone to mold before it's fully dried.

Cleaning Seeds

• Dry seeds: thresh by hand (rubbing pods or seed heads between your palms) or in a bag, then winnow — pouring seed between containers in front of a fan or breeze — to separate seed from chaff.

• Wet seeds: scoop seed and pulp into a jar with a little water and let it sit for 2–4 days to ferment. This breaks down the gel coating (especially important for tomatoes) and kills many seed-borne diseases in the process. Viable seed sinks; pulp and non-viable seed float and can be poured off. Rinse the sunk seed well in a fine strainer.

Drying Seeds

Spread cleaned seed in a single layer on a paper plate, coffee filter, or screen — not paper towels, which seeds stick to. Dry in a well-ventilated spot out of direct sun for 1–2 weeks, stirring occasionally for even drying. Seed is fully dry when it snaps rather than bends (for larger seeds like beans) or crumbles rather than smears (for smaller seeds). Never dry seed in an oven or under direct heat — high heat can kill embryos.

Labeling Varieties and Harvest Year

Label every batch the moment it's dry and packaged — not later, when memory gets unreliable. Include:

• Variety name (exactly as it appears on the original Garden in a Bag™ packet)

• Harvest year

• Any notes worth remembering (especially strong plant, early producer, etc.)

Unlabeled seed is one of the most common ways home seed savers lose track of a variety they meant to keep.

Proper Storage

Store cleaned, fully dry seed in airtight containers — paper envelopes inside a sealed jar, resealable bags, or dedicated seed storage boxes all work well. Adding a small silica gel packet or a few tablespoons of dry rice wrapped in cloth helps absorb any residual moisture.

Keeping Seeds Cool and Dry

Seed longevity comes down to two conditions above all else: cool and dry. A stable spot like a closet, drawer, or refrigerator holds up far better than a garage or shed subject to temperature swings and humidity. As a rule of thumb, the combined numbers of the temperature (°F) and humidity percentage in storage should stay under 100 for the best long-term viability. Most vegetable seed stored well stays viable for 3–5 years; some, like onion and parsley, are shorter-lived and are best used within a year or two.

Following Variety-Specific Instructions

General seed-saving principles apply broadly, but every crop has its own quirks — some need isolation distance from other varieties to prevent cross-pollination, some are biennial and need to overwinter before they'll flower and set seed, and some have specific fermentation or drying times. Check the back of each Garden in a Bag™ seed packet for variety-specific seed-saving instructions before you get started — they're written to match exactly what's in that packet.