There’s one thing I think most gardeners end up hoarding: SEEDS. Or, well, at least this gardener does. I have 4 containers full of them, some saved by me, many saved from years past. And I keep buying more!
A LOT of seeds stay fairly viable from year to year. I have a handful of bean seeds from years ago that I planted in 2017, and they sprouted AOK. I have tomato seeds from nearly a decade ago that I STILL hold onto. If I had to buy every seed I wanted to plant this year fresh, I would be one broke gardener.
There are a few things that don’t store well: carrots, for example. If I have old carrot seed, I just sow it extra thickly rather than toss it. This past year, the seeds were noticably slower to germinate, which led to heavier weed competition, but with a little elbow grease they still produced some extra carrots. I’m getting much better at just buying the carrot seed I need for the coming year, however.
Going through and sorting these seeds makes finding what I need so much easier. It lets me see what fresh seed I’m going to need, and when it comes time to plant I won’t spend half-an-hour looking for where I put that last packet of radish seed. Plus, it’s a fun winter task for this snow-bound gardener.
This year I bought quite a bit of seed – I had simply run out of several things: cabbage, broccoli, carrot, parsnip, turnip, Paul Robeson tomato seed. Then there’s the new varieties that caught my eye: Liebesapfel peppers. Marfax dry beans. Ronda pickling cucumbers. And sometimes you just want to try something completely new. I’m trying out both a northern variety of valencia peanut (wish me luck!) and a red-hued celery. I’ve never grown celery! How is that possible?!
All of this adds up pretty quickly, but seeds being what they are, it’s quite affordable when you consider how much food we produce.
2018, here I come! First up: sowing scallions and lavender at the end of February.
Beane Hill Farm 