The trick is to buy produce that's organic at a local farmer's market. It's usually ripened longer on the vine at the farmer's markets, so the seeds are more likely to have developed and become viable. I'm not sure if I can find organic pie pumpkins locally though, so I might be out of luck on that and might just have to try my luck with a store bought pie pumpkin (I've had seeds from store bought produce work out for me in the past, but it's rarer.) Even if I can find local grown that isn't organic that'd be great, and I'll keep looking. Organic means it also won't be a GE crop, which crops are often designed to have non-viable seeds. Right now all I have are some ambrosia cantaloupe seeds from a cantaloupe I bought at a local farmer's market. The cantaloupe was so perfectly sweet and flavorful that I had to save the seeds to see what I could do with them. I dried them out and have them in a ziplock bag. I'll put them in the fridge as per skwimo's suggestion. Thanks everyone.

Edited to add: Of course you can always buy seeds, but I prefer to know the qualities of the food from which it came. Thus, I like to find the pumpkins that made the most flavorful pies and breads, and the best tasting cantaloupes, and I only save the seeds from those.

The trick is to buy produce that's organic at a local farmer's market. It's usually ripened longer on the vine at the farmer's markets, so the seeds are more likely to have developed and become viable. I'm not sure if I can find organic pie pumpkins locally though, so I might be out of luck on that and might just have to try my luck with a store bought pie pumpkin (I've had seeds from store bought produce work out for me in the past, but it's rarer.) Even if I can find local grown that isn't organic that'd be great, and I'll keep looking. Organic means it also won't be a GE crop, which crops are often designed to have non-viable seeds. Right now all I have are some ambrosia cantaloupe seeds from a cantaloupe I bought at a local farmer's market. The cantaloupe was so perfectly sweet and flavorful that I had to save the seeds to see what I could do with them. I dried them out and have them in a ziplock bag. I'll put them in the fridge as per skwimo's suggestion. Thanks everyone.

Edited to add: Of course you can always buy seeds, but I prefer to know the qualities of the food from which it came. Thus, I like to find the pumpkins that made the most flavorful pies and breads, and the best tasting cantaloupes, and I only save the seeds from those.

You might want to find out whether the seeds are hybrid before going through the trouble of planting them. Hybrids may not reproduce the same as the parents'. Of course if you have time and space you can just wait and see what results.

There are techniques to save various types of seeds. Things like squash and mellons, I just save and dry the seeds,and pick the best seeds to plant the next year. Things like cukes and tomatoes,I use a mature fruit, mash it in a jar, add water and close the lid. Put in a warm place for a few days, stirring daily, until the contents ferment and the seeds will sink to the bottom of the jar. Simply rinse and flush the old pulp away and lay the fermented seeds on some linen to dry. I have better luck growing these than commercial seeds. Try to buy heirloom varieties of plants and seeds so the seeds will be viable for growing. So many plants now are hybrids and won't breed true.
I share excess seeds or sprout them for compost.


Let me add, once my seeds are dry, I leave them for 3 days before I put them in old pill bottles and label them and the year harvested. Then I am ready for the next planting.

GOO VERTICAL ! Melons, cuks, all vine plants have tentacle that will attach firmly to a trellis, tomato need to be tied up every few days (a good long lasting trellis material, is hog / deer fence wire for a vertical trellis 4 ft. or 6 ft. or more use some poll frame to support it.