On Sat, 31 Mar 2012 07:45:15 -0400, The Cook
wrote:

My seed packages never get to the kitchen. This one made it to the
computer table because it is listed in my seed software as purchased
last August.

What is your "seed software" ?

I use Excel to track seeds and germination successes. Created a
multi-worksheet file, with the first worksheet having columns for
things such as plant category (allium, herb, greens, tomato, corn,
etc), variety name, mfr stock #, date of purchase, year packaged for,
seed producer, source (store, friend, etc), type of container
(important for saved seeds), heirloom vs. hybrid (important for seed
saving), seed count/weight, cost, storage location (I largely use 3
Litre storage crates, and I number them all), then various bits of
plant data. If saved seed, date of harvest. Also, a field for misc
plant notes - pelleted, flower colour, bee forage, etc.

Plant types, vendors, etc are on subsequent worksheets and are
drop-downs on the main seed worksheet (results in much less typing).
I've been updating the plant class info with planting data (pH, water
and soil requirements, spacing tend to be about the same for all
plants of a given type), and manufacurers and sources have contact
information on them (even in some cases having manufacturers listed
that I don't actually have seed from - it's a handy reference to
websites, etc).

I also use the spreadsheet to generate unique serial number labels
(with barcodes) for saved seed, so I can better track them - each
container of saved seed has a year-specific indentifier, so at a
glance I know how old the seed is. Since the labels are generated
from the spreadsheet (granted, involves importing into word to print a
"mailmerge"), I'm not re-typing variety names, etc - less opportunity
for typos.

Since I have already bought more and sowed some of them, the missing
package will turn up next week.

As long as they're stored properly, they should be good for a few
years. If nothing else, plant a bunch of the older seed next year or
the year after and just give away/trade a bunch of starts so they
don't end up doing you no good.

I have Golden Zucchini from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds in my inventory
(as well as Yellow Scallop and Yellow Straightneck from the same
source, and a variety of other squashes from others), all in "Garden
Bin 11". I may have to flip through 40+ packets in the bin to find
the specific thing I'm looking for, but it's in the bin it's
inventoried to be in.