Seed Saving : Cucumbers

I have made my very first attempt at saving my own seeds. A couple of my cucumbers were left too long on the plant so I decided to give seed saving a go and see what happens. Of course, I won't know until next summer whether I've managed to save any viable seeds or not but you have to start somewhere.

I started out with an over-ripe cucumber and cut out all the seeds:



Then soaked them in water overnight:


I read somewhere (I only wish I could remember where - if it was your blog, let me know so I can give proper credit) that unviable seeds float on the top and you can scoop them off. That had me worried as most of my seeds floated to the top.

However, by the next day, there weren't nearly as many floating on the top:



Phew! I thought I had a dud cucumber on my hands there.

I scooped most of the seeds floating from the top and then dried those that were on the bottom on some paper towel. Now I just have to wait until next season to see if any of them work.