Seed Vitality & Longevity

When I started to make my seed wish list for the garden I began to wonder if the seeds I had in storage were still good; I tend to over shop for seeds and have a surplus from the previous year’s garden, some of which would be entering their third year.  I figured I could risk using the old seed or throw them out and get new.  As I wasn’t too keen on having to purchase new, I decided to do some research - off to the inter-web I went.

Very quickly I discovered there are many website that discuss seed longevity.  By reviewing many different lists, I drew the conclusion that most seeds are good for 3 to 4 years, with a few exceptions.  This got me thinking, are seeds like that container of yogurt or sour cream in the fridge that lasts well past its best before date, or are they like raw chicken left uncooked – something you don’t want to touch?  And then I stumbled across a blog that talked about testing seeds.  Perfect!

So here is it, how to test if your seeds are good:

1)      Choose 10 seeds from the package of seeds you wish to test. 

Ten is a good amount to use because it allows you to easily extrapolate your finding to the rest of the seed package.  Ex: If only one seed germinates, you have 10% chance the rest of the seeds will.

2)      Take a damp paper towel, fold in it half, and place your ten seeds on half of it. Fold the paper towel again so that the seeds are sandwiched between the layers.  (If you are testing larger seeds like peas or beans it may work better if you put them in a glass jar with wet paper towel on top.)

3)      Place your “seed sandwich” in a zippy and seal.

4)      Keep the baggie in a warm area and check daily to make sure the paper towel is damp.

5)      After a week, or a few days if you’re impatient like me, take out and unfold the paper towel to see what is happening.  You may start to see some sprouting action or you may see nothing.

6)      Make sure to keep the paper towel damp and continue to check your seeds until they have sprouted or you feel nothing more is going to happen.  Keep in mind the longer the seeds take to germinate the less healthy they are. (Of course this also depends on the type of seeds.)

When I did this, I tested three types of onion seeds.   According to what I had read, onion seeds were only good for one year.  As these seed were about to enter their third year of existence I felt it important to test them.

My results: only 40% of the green onion seeds sprouted, 80% of the white onions sprouted (extremely slowly) and 100% of the red onions sprouted within a ten days.  My conclusion: turf the green and white onion seeds, keep the red onions.

Happy seed testing!

A Storage Note

Last fall a majority of our garden vegetables ended up being blanched, vacuumed sealed and frozen.  What we didn’t freeze ended up in our Cold Room.

When storing in the cold room, we placed the potatoes, onions and garlic in burlap bags so they could breathe and the carrots were packed in sand in plastic bins.

As the end of March approaches we are noticing a significant reduction in our vegetable stash: there is only one pack of turnip left, a handful of packs of swiss chard, peas and beans, about 1/3 of the potatoes, ½ the carrots and the onions, garlic and shallots are long gone.  (Note: In the fall  we ended up with around 160 pounds of potatoes and 2.5 - 20 gallon plastic tubs of sand packed carrots.)

We’ve noticed the Yukon Gold Potatoes store a lot better than the Red Norlands.  The red potatoes are softening and starting to sprout while the Yukon Gold are sprout free and are as firm and crisp as the day they were harvested.

The carrots, despite the odd top trying to grow, are firm and crisp and are showing very little sign of drying out and decay.  In the past, we haven’t had this sort of luck with our carrots.  Over our few years of gardening, we have found that different varieties and different storage methods have a significant impact on the duration you can store carrots; and I’m sure this applies to other veggies as well.

The first year we had our garden we stored the carrots in a plastic tub packed in sand; they did ok, but many become soft and dried out over time.  The second year we grew the same carrot but stored them packed in sand in a plywood box; we will never to do this again as the wood absorbed the moisture from the sand leaving the carrots soft and wrinkly very early in the winter.  This (or last) year we went back to plastic, to keep the moisture in the sand, and grew a carrot variety that was good for storing.

When storing vegetables, it seems as though there is an element of luck to it.  Keep in mind though there are also a few things you can do to improve your “luck.”  When shopping for seeds consider how you plan to store or process your vegetables.  Most seed descriptions specify if they are good for canning, freezing, or storing- I look for these qualities in the seeds I buy to ensure that we can get the most out of the garden for many months after the final harvest.