How long are my seeds good for?

While it is February, one can taste the full joys of anticipation.

Spring stands at the gate, with her finger on the latch.

Patience Strong

One thing that needed done before I began my spring seed buying frenzy, is that I needed to go through the seeds that I already had.

They were a big, jumbled mess! I gathered them all together and dumped them on the table.

I sorted through all of these old seeds packets. I weeded out (no pun intended-there will be plenty of weeding in the near future!) and threw away the outdated seeds, keeping only those that would be viable. There is a seed viability list below for you to refer to if you are going through your seeds.

All of my seeds nicely stored in a plastic container, in alphabetical order of type and date. It is very easy to flip through them and to quickly know what I have and what I still need to buy.

There is an optimal way to store seeds to extend their viability. They should be stored in a cool, dry dark place and should be kept from moisture and temperature fluctuations.

If you are not sure of their viability, there is a simple test you can do to check them. Just take a few seeds, place them on a damp paper towel, roll the towel up and place the paper towel in a plastic bag. Mark the bag with the date. Leave the bag in a warm place and after a few days check for any germinating seeds. If you have a 50% germination rate you can still use them, just sow them more thickly than usual.

Here is a list of the viability of vegetable seeds.

1 year

lettuce, onions, parsley, salsify

2 years

corn, leeks, okra, peppers

3 years

asparagus, broccoli, carrots, celery, kohlrabi, peas, spinach

4 years

beets, brussels sprouts, cabbbages, cauliflower, swiss chard, eggplant, fennel,

kale, pumpkin, radish, rutabaga, squash, tomatoes, turnips, watermelon

5 years

artichokes, cantaloupes, cucumber, collards, endive, radish