Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Give peas a chance (and other veggies too)!

A couple of weeks ago I ran across a cache of seed packets I had long ago squirreled away for a future garden and then promptly forgot about them.  They were now five years old.  Many people would probably just throw them away thinking they were too old to grow.  Not me.  I have difficulty throwing anything away that could possibly grow into a plant.  So.... into the ground they went.  Here is the result:
The snow peas are growing beautifully and it looks like nearly every one germinated.  I also planted some Alaska peas which may have had a slightly lower germination rate but still a high percentage.

The Beefsteak and Cherry tomatoes are coming up well, as is the curled parsley.  The sweet basil has excellent germination but oddly the purple-leaf basil did not germinate at all.  Likewise, the Cilantro and bell peppers have thus far done nothing.  The turnip greens though, came up very thick.  I'll have to do some thinning of these.
It just goes to show that if you want to throw out old seeds, throw them on the ground and you might be surprised!

7 comments:

Melanie J Watts said...

HA! what a lovely surprise for you that those old seeds germinated. I never throw my seed out until it doesn't germinate I think 5 years is probably the limit tho.

Floridagirl said...

Well, I do read the expiration dates so I don't waste precious space in the garden waiting for something that ain't gonna happen. Not always true, huh?

Ami said...

I know what you mean not want to throw anything away that can grow into a plant! Interesting experiement with the "old" seeds. Now I need to check MY inventory to see if anything can surprise me! Oh, BTW, thank you for recent visit to my blog.

D said...

Hello Jim, great post and good for you! I'm not about to throw away my older seeds... they will not disappoint if properly stored. ;)

Susan said...

That's good to know since I have lots of old seeds lying around. I'll pop em in the ground, and see what happens. :-)

Kelly@LifeOutOfDoors said...

Congrats on the seedlings! Clearance plants are my downfall. It doesn't matter how brown and withered and pathetic looking they are...I always seem to think that I can revive them if I just plant and love them. Sometimes it works - I do have one fantastic eastern red bud that I saved from the chainsaw! Kelly

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