Shelf Life of Seeds
As I’ve been sorting through my seed stash, I’ve been pulling out seeds I know are no longer viable. While some seeds may last for a long time (like tomatoes), others start to lose their oomph very quickly. I have found that with onions it’s best to purchase new seeds every other year. In general, fresh seed will have better germination rates than older seed. Tomato seeds seem to be the exception, I have great germination with old tomato seed. Beets do better if they’re only one or two years old. Onions need to be fresh. Here’s a handy guide to download or pin. Here’s the large PDF download of this chart: Shelf Life of Seeds
If you’re new to gardening it’s especially important to start with fresh seed. You don’t want to start off on the wrong foot.
How do you store your seeds? shoebox? fridge? scattered around the house? in the garage?
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Making My List
It’s that time of the year to start ordering my seeds. Every year, I go through my seed stash and figure out what I need for the upcoming season. Since I start all my onions from seed, I do this in early January. Each year, I choose a different company to order from, I like trying seeds from different places. This year, I purchased a seed share from High Mowing Seeds in December (you get 10% off by doing it this way). Now it’s time to sit down and figure out what I need for the upcoming gardening season.
I have a lot more room than I have had in the past, but I’m not 100% positive on how much. Cover crops will be used in any areas that aren’t filled with veggies. There are a few new vegetables I’m excited about trying, celeriac is the one I’m most eager to grow. There’s something so great about this activity, so much hope and promise.
When do you typically order your seeds for the gardening season?
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The Basement Seed Starting Area
This past weekend I spent some time cleaning up the basement seed starting area. Last year, a few of you asked about seeing it, so here it is. My seed starting area always starts out neat and tidy in January, but slowly descends into chaos as more and more seeds get started and as the gardening season ramps up. Add to that all the plants that get hurriedly carried in when the weather turns cold in the fall and it can get to be quite a mess. It remains that way until January, when I head down with my mop to clean it all up for the new season. I’ve always got a furry helper by my side “helping” me with the chores so it’s not so bad (this time it was Dexter).
My seed starting area consists of a collection of random items that have been given to me throughout the years. The table I use is an old enameled top table that was left in the first house my parents purchased, it’s much older and I am (probably by 2 or maybe 3). It’s quirky and interesting, I’ve loved it since I was a kid. This table used to sit under our laundry shoot in our old house with a basket on top.
My light shelf was given to me a few years ago by my mom when she got a new one. One tray has been removed and replaced with a piece of plywood topped by a heating mat for those seeds that appreciate some warmth, like: peppers, tomatoes, onions, etc. Head on over to the Your Day Blog to read my post about how this seed table recently taught me a valuable lesson.
After sweeping, mopping, dusting and cleaning up, everything was back in order and ready for the coming season, which officially started on Tuesday (more on that tomorrow). It’s nice to have this little corner of the basement set up as a seed starting area, it’s quite cold down there since our basement in unheated, but with a heating mat for the warm loving crops everything does just fine!
Do you have a dedicated seed starting area?
A seedling heating mat seedling heating mat is money well spent if your seed starting area is in a cold area of the house. I have this 20-3/4-Inch by 48-Inch which accommodates 4 flats of seeds, you only need to keep the trays on the mat until the majority of the seeds germinate.
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Getting Ready for Fall/Winter Crops
Now’s the time to start thinking about your fall/winter garden. I have tiny seedlings of: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale, and leeks in my basement seed starting area. They will be moved out into the garden in August. Hopefully by then the weather will have cooled down a bit.
I’ve also started a flat of zucchini and cucumbers to plant for a late summer/early fall harvest. Often plants like zucchini and cucumbers will languish in the summer heat and quit producing. If you want a long season of these vegetables it’s wise to replant in July. If we don’t have an early cold snap I’ll be eating zucchini into early October.
In a few weeks I’ll also plant peas in my mom’s garden in the location the potatoes will be harvested from. Our spring pea harvest didn’t do very well, the overly wet spring did them in. We only managed to eek a few cups of peas out of our 4 short rows. Hopefully we’ll get a good fall harvest so we can fill our freezers with tender green peas for winter soups and stews. I’ll also be seeding a lot of beets, lettuce, spinach and other quick greens the first week of September for overwintering. Each and every year I try to experiment with more cold season gardening. One of these years I’ll finally get the hang of it and we’ll be able to eat homegrown vegetables all year long.
Are you already planning for the upcoming seasons? Any fall/winter gardening?
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The First Tomato of 2011
I haven’t even begun to start most of my summer garden seeds yet. I do have the seedling area filled with onions, leeks, and celery. I start those very early in January so they’re ready to move outside when it’s time to start the peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage and other seeds. A week ago I started 5 seeds for ‘Sub-Arctic’ tomato. I like to start these early since they don’t seem to mind the cold weather.
I used to start my tomatoes super early, but last year I noticed that the ones I had spent hours carrying in and out of the basement, repotting and coddling didn’t fruit any faster than the ones that germinated in the soil outside when the time was right. My first tomato harvest was actually a volunteer that started on the front hillside. This year I’m going to be starting my tomatoes a little later than usual, that way I’ll spend less time repotting them and I can spend more time working in the garden.
I will be doing some experimenting with one variety of tomatoes. I’ll start a few seeds here in the next few days, a few in a couple weeks when I start all my tomatoes and I’ll direct sow a few seeds in the garden (all the same variety). It should be interesting to see how each one grows and produces. If the direct sown seeds do just as well I’ll plant all of my tomatoes that way in the future, that will sure save a lot of time and effort!
Are you doing anything differently this year in your edible garden? Have you started any of your tomato seeds?
