My long term goal is to never have to externally source seed. I'm aiming for self-sufficiency. Mainly because I find the idea appealing.
I am using heirloom seeds only.
As I'm still fairly new to all of this I'm not trying to do too much too soon. I'm planning on saving all the seeds that are very easy to save this year, and gradually over time I'll start saving all of my own seed.
So for example, beans are easy to save. However, I don't want to stick to one variety at this point. So I'm growing 2 types of runner bean - one in front garden and one in back, and a few types of french beans all well spaced in the garden. This is very easy to manage.
However, with tomatoes we really need to use a polytunnel in Scotland. My main crop are indeterminate (gardners delight), but in order to start getting fruit earlier in the season I've found it pays to have some bush varieties too. I haven't yet selected which varieties are best so I'm growing a few. However, I'm guessing this rules out the saving of tomato seeds this year?
Presumably if I want to continue to grow at least two varieties of tomato and save my own seed I'm going to need a second greenhouse or polytunnel?
Going off-topic a little, but what veg seeds are easiest to save - and by 'easy' I mean no risk of them crossing with other variants (mine or my neighbours)?