Don’t Throw Out Your Garden Seeds

Over the last few weeks I have been going through my veggie and herb seeds, some of which are 2-3 years old and I was surprised to have found that rather go out and buy new seeds every year, most of these leftover seeds can be planted again.

The key is storing your seeds in a cool dark place where the temperature in consistent, usually between 45-50 degrees.  If they're seeds from the store, keep them in the original packaging and stash them away until you use them again.  For me, that is in the drawer in the garage.  In fact, every fall I gather seeds from the that summer's crops and flowers, save them in envelopes or prescription bottles, label them and stash them in a drawer.

So far my petunias, verbena, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and various herbs are coming up nicely and it did not cost me more than the price of a good soiless seed starter mix I picked up at Agway and starting them under florescent lights.  In fact my cucumber seeds from 3 years ago came up in 5 days are are almost ready to put out in the garden.

So if you have seed packets from 2-3 years ago, check this list from High Mowing Seeds: