Do I hear a "Volunteer"?

Most seeds nowadays are hybrids and I have always heard that it is impossible to save seeds from one year to the next if you want a good crop.  The thought was that the hybrid seeds would never produce after the first year.  Well..I have news for you!  Last year, several "volunteer" yellow squash came up in the Rose Garden of all places.  I think this happened because Sunny, the foster pup, ate a lot of tough squash in that area.  She loved to chew on the old squash and I was grateful for a bit of the calmness that the hard veggies brought her.  Anyway, last summer those squash did well at providing us with a good many meals!  As usual, any of the squash that were missed during harvesting turned hard and dry.  When I would occasionally find one like this, I would just toss it under the plant to mulch.  Evidently, a few of those seeds decided to be fertile!

Earlier this spring when Michael was moving the Rose Garden fence, I salvaged a few more "volunteer" squash plants.  Since no garden area was ready to receive these plants, I stuck them in any container I could find handy.  One such container was an old shrimp bin from the local factory.  This plastic crate is about three feet in length and maybe twenty inches wide.  The plants did well and grew quickly.  I had good intentions of transplanting them once again into the garden but procrastination overruled and I never did.  Today, I noticed that these squash were doing great!  There were several blooms and even tiny squash on the plants!  I am excited about this as now I know that I can save the seeds for future use.  It is getting hard to find healthy seeds at the stores plus, some seeds have been treated with insecticides.  Treated seeds are not what I want in my garden!  I have no use for that many added chemicals in my produce!  A few of the larger squash on these plants will be allowed to ripen fully on the plant and the seeds will be dried for next spring's planting.  I already do this with the butternut squash, tomato and pepper seeds so having yellow squash added to the seed stock will be great!

Being a seed-saver means a lot to me.  By doing this, I know the quality of the seeds and also know just how the seeds have been handled.  With purchased seeds, one can never be too sure of what has been added that may potentially be passed on through the next crop.  Call me over-leery but I worry about poisoning my body with unnecessary things.  Plus!  All of this seed-saving sure helps the wallet stay a bit fatter! With the prices of gardening essentials skyrocketing, every little bit helps.  Seed-saving, composting and upcycling can make a big difference!