saving veggie seeds for next season

how do i go about savings seeds for next year. i am interested in grape and regular tomatoes and eggplants. thanks to anyone who can help.

Are they hybrids? Heirlooms?

darius - nope, just plain regular tomatoes and eggplants. why, cant i save hybrid seeds and heirlooms?

Hybrid seeds won't produce a plant like the parent...if they produce fruit at all.They are bred from several parents and only the generation of seed that produced the fruit that you ate will duplicate itself. Some saved seeds from hybrids are also sterile.You may have what looks like a perfectly good seed,but it may germinate,grow a plant and never bloom.

If it does set fruit,you will get a mix of all of the parents in the next generation...most of which won't resemble what you want. Sorry,but there's no way of changing genetics.

Now Heirlooms and Open Pollinated veggies on the other hand will grow true from saved seed and you can plant them year after year and get the same fruit...provided there is no cross pollination.

An Heirloom is loosely defined as a plant or seed that has been in existance for at least 50 years,and it is also OP(open pollinated)Most people take the definition further and insist the the seeds be handed down in families or communities for at least this period of time. OP simply means that the seed will produce offspring like the parent and can be from a commercial source,or a family.

Most produce that you purchase is hybrid.They are bred for uniform size,color and shape.They also are bred to ripen all at the same time so that they can be harvested at the same time.The skins are tougher and hold up well in shipping.Shelf life is bred into them,but alas,most of the time the taste is far down the list of desireable traits.

If you bought plants at a garden center and raised your veggies,chances are,they are hybrid also.Tomatoes such as Big Boy,Early Girl,Celebrity,Jet Star,are all hybrids and are the most common garden center plants.You have to go back to the garden center next year to get new plants if you want to grow those. Big Agri-business has seen to that.

There are many Heirloom and OP varieties out there,you just have to do a little digging and ask a few questions.There are no hybrid seeds ever planted in my gardens...I save from year to year and increase my varieties all the time.

Hope this helps...if you have more questions,feel free to ask.I'll try to help.

melody - thank you so much for the info about the seeds.
can i purchase seeds in packages that arent hybrids? like i said i usually start my plants from seeds and never paid attention to what i was buying. i guess ill have to do a little research next time. thanks again. youve been very helpful. hve a nice day.

Herbie, there are actually many sites about saving seeds (non-hybrid seeds), but you might want to look here as a source for information as well as seeds. I believe they have lots of good info. on their website about why heirloom and/or open polinated seeds.
http://www.seedsofchange.com/

I buy most of my seeds online as few of the local places carry Heirloom or OP seeds. I can get them really early that way, too.

darius - thanks for your info. the site was helpful. the more i use the dg website the more i learn. thanks again

http://www.rareseeds.com/

Here is another link that is really good.Baker Creek Seeds is owned by DG member Jere Gettle. I really like his seeds and they are great people to do business with.

You might want to subscribe to The Heirloom Gardener.It's a new magazine that is being produced there at Baker Creek.