I went through my seeds and I'm going to get rid of the older ones. If anyone needs some seeds give me a holler and ill see if I have them and let you know how old they are. They range between 1999 to 2018.
Same as here.It was down to 8° this morning.
I didn't realize that seeds are put out at this time of year either. I went to this particular nursery because they always take the seeds that didn't sell at the end of the gardening season, put them in large baskets all mixed up and sell them half price. That is what I was looking for. I never saw those seeds, just several racks being set up with seeds for next year.(Sigh of relief that I am not the only one who saves old seeds, really old).
Weedy, I didn't realize that seeds are put out at this time of year; I guess because I've been so busy in years past Christmassing.
That you save old seeds...does that also mean that you don't thin your seedlings out because you don't sow so heavily? When I first started gardening I sowed with a heavy hand and thought it so wasteful as I pulled up the sprouts to thin.
When you purchase seeds, do you buy two packs or more of each for some reason?
Or do you like to experiment by growing from different seeds and types?
Darn, that's a little chilly!
Have you looked at black krim tomatoes? They mature at 90 days, fruit by 120. They are darker and have a wonderful smoky flavor. An heirloom type, maybe originally from Russia? I don't think I'm too far off topic.
From Johnny's Seeds (Maine)
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I've had pretty decent luck with older seeds except for lettuce and spinach seeds. They seem to need to be newer.
What does that do?There is always the idea of soaking the old seeds in hydrogen peroxide.
Some items are available already, but there is a lot of stuff that is out of stock
Soak your seeds in a 3% hydrogen peroxide for 30 minutes. Rinse the seeds several times with water before planting and plant them as usual. Doing this breaks down the hard outer covering of the seeds and kills any pathogen present on them. This allows the seeds to absorb more oxygen, helping them sprout efficiently.What does that do?
Thank you. Target is a store I rarely go into any more. I will go look there for them.Hey, @Weedygarden I saw those metal straws at Target, no one here wants to shop there.
I have found that using a sharpie and writing the year on the front makes it easier for me in the long run. After doing that for a few years, I buy seeds, bring them home, and date them before I put them away.Snowed last night. Good day to go through seeds. Have two bins in the basement sorted (kinda) by what they are. Think I'll check dates. Husband did get me a mixed collection of vegetable seeds last Christmas from Baker's Creek that I'm excited about.
I can tell you that I have found that seeds that I thought were too old to be viable, were surprisingly viable. In my Shishito pepper hunt this spring, I ended up at a home where a woman raises and sells all kinds of seedlings. She sources seeds from around the world. She had things in a couple stages. The first step, she plants all of her seeds in one pot, not a small pot, but more like a 6 inch pot. When they are large enough, she transplants them into styro-foam cups. After this thread started, I realized that is what I should have done with some of my old seeds, put all from one package into one pot, labeled with what they were and date planted, and waited to see if anything came up.I have been paying a little more attention to how the seeds behave and found that even seeds a few years old really lost a lot in terms of germination. So I went through this year and cleaned out anything more than 2 years old. I also moved all my seeds into an air tight container and put it in the MAN BASEMENT Fridge, took up a whole shelf. I think I will have all of my new seeds in by next week. I decided to strike early because I saw too many things "Sold Out" last year and the seed racks at the stores looked like someone hit them with a truck... picked clean except for "tape" things....
With so many container plants planned for this year I am going to need some potting soil before long. I have about 200 gallons of last year's container soil that I have sifted and blended with shredded leaves but I will use that to ammend my raised beds in late winter/early spring.
I would really like to have everything in place by the end of January to cover ALL my needs for the coming year (garden wise).
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