The seed catalogs for the 2024 gardening season here in North America have begun rolling in and it always makes me excited. One of my favorite things to do on a chilly night is set myself up in my chair by the fire with a hot cup of something tasty, snuggle under a blanket with a stack of seed catalogs and a highlighter, and just peruse the newest hybrids and old favorites, marking the catalog as I go. If you like to do the same, this year you might be in for a little bit of a shock.
If you’re not going for standard, open-pollinated varieties that have been around forever you might be surprised what you find when you start flipping through those pages. Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to talk about how these prices seem to be different from the previous few seasons and how we can cut our expenses in the garden through proper seed storage. If you have leftover seed from this past season, you really want to be sure you’re storing them properly so they will still be good for next season and beyond. We’ll talk the best conditions for storing the seeds in our stash, types of storage containers, and how long each type of seed can be stored. Let’s dig in.
Resources and References:
Ep. 63 - Proper Seed Storage: Moisture levels, storage conditions, containers, and more
Ep. 108 - Basics of Saving Seeds
How to Start Saving Seeds From Your Garden (and Why) - Ep. 159
Six Steps for Saving Seeds From Your Garden
Saving Seeds From Your Region to Improve Your Garden (video)
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This is positively farming media.
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The seed catalogs for the 2024 gardening season here in North
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America have begun rolling in, and it always makes me excited.
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One of my favorite things to do on a chilly night is set myself
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up in my chair by the fire with a hot cup of something tasty.
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Snuggle under a blanket with a stack of seed catalogs and a
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highlighter, and just peruse the newest hybrids in my old
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favorites, marking the catalog as I go.
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If you like to do the same thing this year, you might be in for a
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little bit of a shock. Have you seen the prices for
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seeds? If you're not going for standard
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open pollinated varieties that have been around forever, you
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might be surprised what you find when you start flipping through
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those pages this year. Today on Just Grow Something,
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we're going to talk about how these prices seem to be
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different from the previous few seasons and how we can cut our
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expenses in the garden through proper seed storage.
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Whether they're saved from your own garden or purchased from a
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supplier, if you have leftover seed from this past season, you
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really want to be sure you're storing them properly so they
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will still be good for next season and beyond.
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We'll talk the best conditions for storing the seeds in our
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stash, types of storage containers, and how long each
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type of seed can be stored. Let's dig in.
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Hey, I'm Karen and I started gardening 18 years ago in a
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small corner of my suburban backyard when we moved to A5
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acre homestead. I expanded that garden to half
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an acre and I found such joy and purpose in feeding my family and
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friends. This new found love for digging
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in the dirt and providing for others prompted my husband and I
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to grow our small homestead into a 40 acre market farm.
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When I went back to school to get my degree in horticulture, I
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discovered there is so much power in food and I want to
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share everything I've learned with as many people as possible.
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On this podcast we explore crop information, soil health, pests
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and diseases, plant nutrition, our own nutrition, and so much
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more in the world of food and gardening.
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So grab your garden journal and a cup of coffee and get ready to
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just grow something. Now, I don't want to freak
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anybody out about the seed prices.
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Many of them have not gone up. I've started doing a little bit
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of a comparison between what I ordered from Johnny's seeds last
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year and their prices this year. And many of the prices have
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stayed the same on varieties of things like kohlrabi, kale,
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lettuce, all the other green type things.
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But when we get to things like tomatoes and Peppers and other
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fruiting types of vegetables, the older standards and some of
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the older hybrids do still seem to be the same price.
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But the newer hybrid types that are bred for more disease
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resistance or resistance to things like blossom and rot and
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higher levels of production, Now we're looking at some bigger
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bucks. And let's not even talk about
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the prices for seed garlic for next season, $30 a pound.
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Y'all, I am not kidding. And that's not even delivered
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until October of next year. So who knows if that price will
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go up. It is ugly, but we're talking
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seeds like vegetable seeds and flower seeds.
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And I will tell you, I was looking through one of my
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commercial growers catalogs for a new type of bell pepper to
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grow and it came across a nice looking green to red variety
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that had fewer days to maturity than many of the standard bells.
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Bell Peppers take a really long time to mature in my area when
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they're grown outside and not in a high tunnel and I'm always
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looking to get an earlier harvest if I can.
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And this variety looked promising until I looked at the
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price of the seed $45.00 for a pack of 50 seeds.
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And that one wasn't the worst. One of the new orange bell
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varieties, Beautiful pepper organic seeds.
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You ready for this $61.00 for 50 seeds?
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No, I am not giving you $1.22 per seed.
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I don't care how pretty that bell pepper is, and these prices
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correlate to the backyard gardener catalogs too.
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Smaller seed packets that are 25 count on newer hybrids have gone
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up in price as well, and this has been the trend, right?
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The newer varieties are always more expensive than the old
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standbys and the older hybrids. And not all the hybrid varieties
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stick around either. I've had some great varieties
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I've grown in the past that I grew for several years and had
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really good success with. And then the plant breeder
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suddenly decided to make improvements to the variety, so
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the previous version was no longer available and the new one
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was 50% more expensive. So of course I had to find an
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alternative. Now of course these costs are
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all relative. If the reason we garden to is to
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save money on our produce budget, then that packet of
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seeds, if it produces even half the expected yield, is still
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going to give me way more for my money than what I would get at
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the store or at the farmers market buying that same produce.
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So if you can stick with older open pollinated varieties or
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time tested hybrids that are a little bit less expensive per
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packet, then you're definitely getting your money's worth.
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But if you're finding that you have a horrible time battling a
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specific disease in one of the crops that you rely on, and a
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new hybrid comes out that is listed to have fantastic
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resistance to that disease, it may be worth it to you to pony
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up the big bucks for a pricey new variety.
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You may want to start with a small packet at the lowest price
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point and give it a trial in your own garden.
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It's up to you to decide whether it's worth it in the long run
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based on your potential yield. And this is where good notes
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during the season regarding performance and harvest are
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going to come in handy. Because unless you have extra
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from this season, if it works out really well for you, you'll
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be buying those seeds again the next season because they're
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hybrids and you can't save the seed and expect the same result.
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And you'll need to know if the price you pay was justified.
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And if you don't have a huge area to garden in, even a packet
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of 10 seeds is going to be more than what you probably need in
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one season, and you might be buying 10 different packets for
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what you want to grow. So storing seeds properly is the
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1st way to save us money in the long run, regardless of how
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cheap we can find the seed. Saving seeds from our own
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gardens is another way. I am a huge proponent of saving
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your own seeds from open pollinated varieties that you
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have grown yourself. I will link to a couple of
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episodes and articles and a video that I made about seed
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saving that goes into that process in detail for you in the
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show notes. Another way to save money on
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buying seeds is to buy in bulk and not necessarily from a
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catalog. Yes, you can buy larger packets
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of seeds from your favorite catalog and that is usually
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going to bring the price down per seed a little bit and
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sometimes by a good amount. If you can find like a
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commercial growers catalog, and if you know how to store those
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seeds properly and get the expected lifespan out of them,
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well then it very well may save you a lot of money to buy the
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packet of 100 or even 1000 seeds and store them up.
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But you can also get seeds in bulk from local seed suppliers
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and that can save you money too. We have a business in Kansas
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City called Planters Seed and Spice Company.
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They sell spices, dip mixes, teas and coffees, soup bases,
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extracts, you name it, all in bins where you can purchase by
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the scoop during the growing season.
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They also carry bulk seeds, along with all kinds of growing
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supplies, and they have a huge wall of seed bins behind the
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counter and a list on the counter of what they sell.
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And you can tell them what you want and how much of it, and
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they'll scoop it out and bag it up for you for less money than
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it would cost to buy from a catalog with no shipping cost,
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obviously, or even cheaper than grabbing seed packets from the
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kiosks. They carry a lot of the standard
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open pollinated varieties, some of them heirlooms and some of
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the classic hybrids. Now in my case planters doesn't
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often carry any of like the newer varieties, but the price
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is definitely right on the old standbys.
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If you have some place in your area that sells seeds like this,
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this can be a great way to save yourself from money.
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Buy in bulk and store what you don't use this season for the
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subsequent years. So how do we store our seeds?
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Regardless of whether you save them from your own garden or you
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buy them from a supplier, most vegetable seeds and annual
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flower seeds have the same storage requirements.
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Just like almost anything else out of our gardens that we
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intend to store. Long term seeds are happiest
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when they are stored in a cool, dark and dry place.
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A dark closet in a cooler part of your house.
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A dry cool basement, a heated garage.
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These are all good spots for storing seeds.
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Your kitchen cupboard or a shelf in your office is likely not.
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The ideal storage temperature for seeds is between 35 and 40
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Fahrenheit, or one to four Celsius.
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With a relative humidity of less than 40%, this is pretty cold
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for most homes and even most basements, so you want to get as
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close as you can to this temperature.
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This might make you think that the refrigerator is a good place
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to store your seats. Most refrigerators hold a
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temperature in that ideal range, but they also have a high
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relative humidity. Plus, the temperature of your
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refrigerator fluctuates constantly with family members
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opening and closing it all day long, So the fridge is not your
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best option for long term seed storage.
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The freezer is also not a great option unless you know the very
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specific requirements for each of the seeds you are storing,
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since the seeds of many warm weather crops can be damaged by
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temperatures that are too cold hold for too long.
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It is true that seed banks and universities often store their
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seeds in freezing temperatures for longer shelf life.
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But those seeds are precisely tested for the proper moisture
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level beforehand and they are held strictly at 0°F or -17
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Celsius. And their freezers aren't
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subjected to people opening and closing the doors all the time
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to get out the frozen meatballs or their favorite ice cream.
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So for long term storage, let's skip the freezer.
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Now you can use the freezer briefly to kill any insects or
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eggs that might be hiding inside the seed if they are seeds that
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you collected yourself, and then you can remove them after a few
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days and store them elsewhere. Other than that, try to find the
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coldest spot above freezing in your house to stash your seeds.
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Once we figure out where to store our seeds, what do we put
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them in? This can be as simple and
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straightforward or as fancy and creative as you want it to be,
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and I have seen some creative storage solutions.
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The 1st way is to just reuse the original envelope or package
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that the seeds came in. If you can, reseal it with tape
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or something to keep the seeds from falling out.
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These envelopes are designed to keep the light out and are
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perfect for storing your seeds and for having the required info
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available about what's in the package.
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If you don't have the original container, or if it was a clear
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plastic, or if it was destroyed while planting, which happens to
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me all the time, then a letter envelope with the name, the
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variety, and the date on it sealed inside a plastic sandwich
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baggie is perfectly fine. I have Manila coin envelopes
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that work great for small numbers of seeds.
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You can put those envelopes into something as simple as a shoe
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box and they'll do just fine. If your storage area isn't prone
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to mice or other rodents, you could step it up a notch and put
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those envelopes into a reusable plastic container or bin.
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CD storage cases or photo albums that have those large slip
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pouches in them are great for storing seed envelopes.
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These cases make it easy to categorize your seeds by type or
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by season, and you can easily flip through and find what
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you're looking for at a glance. If you have a larger collection
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of seeds, photo storage boxes that have those individual pull
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out trays will fit seed packets beautifully and you can color
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code them again by plant family or by season or by whatever
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other methods you choose to organize them.
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There's actually some designs of those now that are specifically
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being marketed as seed Storage Craft Supply organizers, and
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those mobile file boxes will also work really well for
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storing and organizing your seats.
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Now, our seed storage solution is a little bit bigger than the
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average gardeners, as you would imagine.
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It's an old metal medical supply cabinet that my husband brought
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home. It works sort of like a file
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cabinet, but the drawers are shallower, so it's perfect for
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both seed packets and homemade envelopes.
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But it also can store the much larger seed bags that some of my
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larger seed purchases come in, specifically beans, peas, corn,
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and cover crops. The whole thing seals shut
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really tightly, which is super important because my seed
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storage is in my basement and we live on a farm, which means we
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have mice that frequently find their way into the basement but
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they can't get into that cabinet.
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Really, just try the easiest method 1st and then modify as
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you go to find what works for you.
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Now, when we're saving our own seeds or we're buying in bulk,
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it's important to know how long those seeds are viable before we
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get too carried away. Certain seeds are longer lived
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than others, and knowing which is which will help you to plan
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which seeds you'll need to save or buy pretty much every year,
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and which ones you can store for longer periods.
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This information is especially helpful for when seed suppliers
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have those end of season sales in the fall or the winter, or
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when they do overrun sales in the spring.
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Knowing the lifespan of the seeds will help you in deciding
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which of those specials that you can take advantage of by
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stocking up and which of those seeds that you buy are going to
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need to be used up right away. So according to Oregon State
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University, the short lived seeds are things like corn,
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onions, leeks, parsley and parsnip.
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These have a storage life of only about one to two years.
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I have seen this first hand with both onion seeds and my corn
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seeds. Now the next sort of
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intermediate section would be things like beans, carrots,
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celery, peas and spinach. They can be stored for about
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three to four years before you start to see a decline in
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viability again. I have seen this first hand,
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specifically in beans and peas. And then finally we have our
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longer lived seeds. These are beets and Chard,
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anything in the cabbage family. So Brussels sprouts,
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cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, kale, all those guys.
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Turnips, radishes, cucumbers and anything else in the kirky
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batesia family. So all of our squash, the
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zucchini and yellow squashes and winter squashes, all of the
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nightshades, eggplant, Peppers, tomatoes, your lettuces,
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muskmelon and cantaloupe and watermelon, all of these things
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have seeds that will last in storage for a good four to five
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years before you start to see the germination rate decline.
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I have tomato varieties from at least six years ago, if not
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longer, that are still sprouting just fine.
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It really does depend on the conditions under which they're
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being stored. So if the temperature in your
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storage area fluctuates quite a bit, and the humidity fluctuates
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quite a bit, the viability of those seeds may decline more
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rapidly than if it's consistently within the ideal
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ranges. In a lot of cases, it just means
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a lower germination rate the longer you hold on to those
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seeds, and you can often account for this by overseeding.
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So if your seeds are older, you can just plant double what you
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normally would to account for that degradation.
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Now, if you're in doubt about the viability of any of the
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seeds in your stash, and you don't want to waste your time
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planting seeds that may not be good anymore, you can just do a
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very quick germination test. It's really easy to do.
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You just moisten a couple of layers of paper towels, pick out
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10 seeds out of the ones that you're questioning, put the
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seeds on the paper towels, fold the paper towels over on top of
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each other, loosely spray it down with some water and place
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them in a plastic bag. OK Make sure that the dead the
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paper towel is nice and damp before you put it in the plastic
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bag. Then mark the plastic bag with
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the date and the number of expected days to germination.
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So some seeds, like radishes, are going to germinate in just
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two or three days. Peppers can take like 2 weeks,
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hot Peppers can take like 3 weeks.
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So refer to the original package or just do a look up to see
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about how long it should take before these seeds should sprout
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ideally. And then keep those towels in a
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warm place that is out of the way, kind of like on top of a
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refrigerator or someplace else where they're going to get a
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little bit of warmth. Check every couple of days to
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make sure that that paper towel is still damp enough for those
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seeds to be moist, and then after the expected number of
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days to germination, check those seeds.
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If less than half of them have germinated, then you either need
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to replace those seeds or you need to double up on your
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planting rate. This is usually pretty easy to
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do with things that we are broadcast seeding, so you're
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just going to broadcast more of them out there.
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Or, if you're planting in the rows, you might go over the road
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twice instead of just doing once.
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If you're starting these seeds indoors, you may want to plant
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double the number as you normally would in each pot or in
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each cell, and then trim them down if you need to.
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If more than what you intended to germinate, come up now.
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If you have like a 60 to 70% germination rate, that's OK.
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You might choose to oversee by just a little bit.
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Anything that's like 75% germination rate or higher than
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you just want to go ahead and plant and usual.
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So if seven to eight of those seeds in your little baggie have
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sprouted, then your seeds are good to go and you can plant as
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usual. So hopefully you're not getting
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sticker shock on the seeds that you were planning to purchase
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for the next gardening season. Knowing how to properly store
00:19:27
your seeds and how long they can be stored for should help you in
00:19:32
your purchasing and your planning from here on out.
00:19:35
Until next time, my gardening friends.
00:19:36
Keep on cultivating that dream garden and we'll talk again
00:19:39
soon. You just finished another
00:19:40
episode of the Just Grow Something Podcast.
00:19:43
For more information about today's topic, go to
00:19:45
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00:19:48
episodes, show notes, articles, courses, newsletter, sign up and
00:19:52
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00:19:54
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00:19:57
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00:19:59
Until next time, my gardening friends keep learning and keep
00:20:02
growing.