I agree with Rodney entirely. And as for picking off the seeds by hand that seems very labour intensive. You can put a paper bag over the seed head and shake.

I am new to having a vegetable garden, but I plan on leaving at least one of everything I want seeds from.

Lauren - you will need to do a bit of homework on which vegetables will be best for collecting seed. For example, if you grow any hybrids the seed is not going to produce plants like its parents. Also not all plants will produce seed in their first year. If you have cold Winters biennials may not survive to flower in their second year. Some easy ones which self sow in my garden are chard, wild arugula, lambs lettuce and red Russian kale.

Thank you floral_UK. I have mild winters here in Northern California. I plan to dedicate an area for lettuces and spinach, but I am not sure where yet...that way for future use they can self sow. As for which plants come true to seed, I know some present problems. I try to stick with mostly heirloom varieties, but I know corn, gourds and squash have a tendency to cross pollinate. I guess those I will have to start over with new seeds each year... although it never hurts to throw in a few saved to see what you get.

Thanks for your input everyone! I decided to pull up some and leave the rest for seed and not use the solo cup idea, it was my compromise for the situation. =)