Saving seeds
In growing a garden year after year, I find that I have accumulated many packages of garden seeds. Going through the inventory, I realized that some of my saved seeds go back as far as 1999. Knowing that seeds don’t last forever, (well at least most seeds) I decided to check out the viability age for some garden seeds. If they’re too old the percentage of germination will be much lower and saving your seeds was a waste of time.
The chart below gives us the average viability age of seeds stored under “proper conditions” which means that seeds should be kept in a cool, dark place with even temperature and humidity. Store seeds in a small mason jar,vacumn seal bags or air tight plastic bag with a silica gel packet . If you don’t have silica gel use dry powdered milk wrapped in a coffee filter.
For long term storage, seeds can also be saved in the refrigerator or freezer. Refrigerated seeds proved to be 10 times more viable than seeds stored at room temperature. Frozen seeds have even a longer lifespan as long as their moisture level is below 8 percent before freezing. This can be done by placing the seeds in a mason jar with 1/2 lb of silica gel for a week. Once the gel turns from dark blue to a pink color and when the dried seed breaks instead of bends when folded, then they are dry enough to freeze. Quickly, transfer the dried seeds to another container and freeze to save for future use.
Bean: 3-4 years
Beet: 6
Broccoli: up to 5
Cabbage: 4
Carrot: 3
Cauliflower: 4-5
Celery: 50% up to 8
Corn: 2-3 Popcorn: 50% up to 5-10
Cucumber: 5
Eggplant: 4
Gourds: 5
Lettuce: 6
Melons: 5
Onion: 1
Pea: 3
Pepper: 2
Pumpkin: 6
Radish: 5
Spinach: 3
Squash: 6
Tomatoes: 3-10 depending on variety
Watermelon: 6
If you are saving your own seeds, be sure your seeds are totally dry before storing and label each packet with a name, date and any other comments for next year. Unlike open pollinated seeds, seeds from F1 hybrids will not be true to the original plant .
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