I think it's just to give you an idea how old the seeds are. Most seeds should be good for several years. Larger seeds like corn and beans tend to last longer than a lot of smaller seeds. Onions don't last long at all at room temperature. I keep my onion seeds in the refrigerator along with other smaller seeds that don't germinate well in hot weather like lettuce, carrots, cabbage etc.

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Terry

May the force be with you

i have "plantlings" from seed from three years ago

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http://photobucket.com/albums/y203/lilpuppolo/
"If you want to talk bollocks and discuss the meaning of life,you're better off downing a bottle of whiskey.That way you're drunk by the time you start to take yourself seriously"

i have plants coming up from seeds marked 2000, 2003, and 2004. not a problem at all.

Well, here's my old seed story.

I'm on a farm in upstate South Carolina. It's Momma's farm. Momma is my little southern mother who is as country as the day is long. She's also a depression child and won't throw a thing away. I tell everyone that the farm house is a museum. It truely is. Yesterday I found a wealth of depression glass on the plant table where Momma is rooting and sprouting who knows what. Momma still has in her possession everything that she has ever bought, or that anyone has ever given her, that isn't edible. Including seeds, as it turned out.

While I was traveling last year, I decided to come home for a 2 week stay to check on Momma. That was back in November. LOL. Momma and I had a lot of catching up to do. I wanted to do something nice for her. So I promised to go through her seeds and make her a proper garden plot.

That's where the seed story really begins. As it turns out, Momma had over 200 packages of seeds. Two hundred. They ranged in age from 1975 to 2004. No lie.

I went to the Martha Stewart web site and found instructions for checking seeds to see if they are too old to germinate. You take 10 seeds from the packet, and try to make them germinate. The site suggested putting them in a wet paper towel. This is your sample population. Whatever percentage of seeds germinate indicate the percentage that will germinate in the rest of the package. If you get 3 seeds to germinate, then 30% of the seeds in the package will probably sprout.

So I started testing seeds. Pretty soon I had seeds in every tin pie pan, piece of precious depression glass, mason jar, and dessert plate in the whole house. And there were still more 10, 20 and 30 year old seeds. I almost laughed myself to death.

So, I just gave up and started to sow. One 40 x 60 feet vegetable garden, 20 x 20 feet herb garden, 20 x 30 feet cutting flower garden, and 10 x 30 feet experimental garden later, all the seeds are sown, except the cool weather/ fall crop seeds.

And, they're sprouting like mad. I even got sprouts from a few of the 20 - 30 year old seeds. The older the seed, the thicker I sowed them because I knew they wouldn't sprout, or if they did - there would just be a few that had survived.

What I learned is that you can use old seeds, just don't expect too much. You'll be pleasantly surprised when you get a few sprouts. I also learned not to make rash promises to Momma.

Belle

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That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Thanks, Jiffymouse. LOL. The Momma stories abound.

Belle

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That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.