Janice wrote:
On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 12:18:14 -0500, George Shirley
wrote:


As long as you keep the seeds dry they will last a long time. I keep
mine in a plastic one gallon container in the fridge and have viable
seeds that are up to ten years old. You can even freeze them if you seal
them in a container, used to keep heirloom field pea seeds that way. I
keep all the seeds in the containers in paper envelopes, the smaller
batches in el cheapo coin envelopes, the rest in el cheapo small size
mailing envelopes. YMMV

George


yup.... 'cept lettuce, parsnips, think orach seed doesn't keep either.
Usually they only last the season they're purchased for, no longer.
Maybe if there are way better storage facilities than most households,
you might get another year out of them, so you'd have to grow them out
each year and save new seed.

Janice

old_codger wrote:


North wrote:


Lets try this again :-)
Note the groups that were added.
n.



Ok, thanks north. I think Alan Connor posted something on this a
while ago but I can't seem to find it.
We'll see what the other groups can add.

Thanks.


We buy lettuce seed for less than a dime a package, leaf type, and I
have some that are two years old in the box. Planted some for spring and
got about 80% germination, which with lettuce seed is more than adequate.

George

To save seeds over time, in the end you have to plant them and
collect the next seasons seeds. It's the only way with seeds that
aren't viable for long. I do a search on 'seedsavers' 'seed banks'
and see what comes up. There are groups around the world who do just
that to keep species alive.
And lo and behold, a nice .edu site :-)

http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/stse/handbook.htm
http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/stse/store.htm

http://homepage.tinet.ie/~merlyn/seedsaving.html

--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 18:38:46 -0600, Janice
wrote:


yup.... 'cept lettuce, parsnips, think orach seed doesn't keep either.
Usually they only last the season they're purchased for, no longer.
Maybe if there are way better storage facilities than most households,
you might get another year out of them, so you'd have to grow them out
each year and save new seed.

I don't know about parsnip and orach seeds' longevity, but I
routinely use lettuce seed that is several years old - it
has very good germination.

Pat

Old_codger,
Our input would be if you are looking to start saving/storing seed for
fear of a time when seed stock for growing is no longer available we
would suggest a multi faceted approach of the other replies.
Buying off the shelf packets of seed at the end of the year for cheap
cheap is a great option for low cost however as has been somewhat stated
it can be a crap shoot. Some will save and some will not but in a
survival situation you arent going to be throwing a tantrum if your
leeks dont sprout. You will eat whatever comes up. So we would say go
ahead and build a library of seeds from the garden center and try to
rotate out all of the oldest every couple years with new. This way you
will always have, at the least, 2 years garden in your library. The
plants you grow from these packets may or may not be viable for saving
seed but they will at the least provide you with food to eat and
preserve. In our experience when we purchase lots of cheap packets at
the end of a season, each year that passes germination is reduced by 50
percent though there are exceptions in both directions. I wouldnt want
to even remotely rely on packets saved for several years for my food
supply though they are a great adjunct.
To start saving your own seed and building a never ending self
generated supply of seed you will want to start growing "open
pollinated" or "heirloom" plants in your garden. They are the same with
the only difference being that heirlooms are varieties which are at
least 50 years old. As was stated, many of the garden center varieties
you buy can be hybrids which means any one of a number of things can
happen when you save the seed from these plants. They may be sterile and
not germinate at all, you may get only one strain of the cross, they may
not produce fruit, or they may grow fine for a couple years and then
fizzle. Hence crapshoot.
Be forewarned however that certain seed can be pretty tough to save and
additionally some vegetables are biennials which makes saving seed
difficult in some climates.
That said, if you really want to insure that you will have viable seed
for growing it would be best to grow a season or two's worth of seed
every year. This way you have fresh seed for the next two years and
should be safe. Simple crops like tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cukes,
melons, many peppers, sunflowers, beets, are easy to save seed from with
the right procedure and a few fruit will provide you with LOTS of seed.
Lettuce and spinach are simple to save seed from as well. Other than new
varieties we grow our own lettuce, spinach, from saved seed every year.
All of the seed catalogs offer many open pollinated and heirloom
varieties additionally a google on "heirloom seeds" will find you many
suppliers of strictly heirloom seed. www.seedsavers.org is a good
resource as well as books like The New Seed Starters Handbook by Nancy
Bubel are good.

Good luck,
Mark

old_codger wrote:


North wrote:

Lets try this again :-)
Note the groups that were added.
n.



Ok, thanks north. I think Alan Connor posted something on this a
while ago but I can't seem to find it.
We'll see what the other groups can add.

Thanks.

in article ,
at wrote on 13/4/04 6:02 am:

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 18:38:46 -0600, Janice
wrote:


yup.... 'cept lettuce, parsnips, think orach seed doesn't keep either.
Usually they only last the season they're purchased for, no longer.
Maybe if there are way better storage facilities than most households,
you might get another year out of them, so you'd have to grow them out
each year and save new seed.

I don't know about parsnip and orach seeds' longevity, but I
routinely use lettuce seed that is several years old - it
has very good germination.

Pat
So what is orach? My ignorance always amazes me.
Ellen

On Tue, 13 Apr 2004 16:17:34 GMT, Ellen Wickberg
wrote:

in article ,
at wrote on 13/4/04 6:02 am:

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 18:38:46 -0600, Janice
wrote:


yup.... 'cept lettuce, parsnips, think orach seed doesn't keep either.
Usually they only last the season they're purchased for, no longer.
Maybe if there are way better storage facilities than most households,
you might get another year out of them, so you'd have to grow them out
each year and save new seed.

I don't know about parsnip and orach seeds' longevity, but I
routinely use lettuce seed that is several years old - it
has very good germination.

Pat
So what is orach? My ignorance always amazes me.
Ellen


It's a hot weather spinach substitute, comes in green and red.
Another hot weather spinach substitute.. malabar spinach .. dunno what
the longevity of that seed is ;-)
links below.
Janice

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MV103
http://www.gardenguides.com/seedcata...chburgandy.htm
http://www.pizazz.com/plants/quiche.htm

in article , Janice at
wrote on 13/4/04 6:52 pm:

On Tue, 13 Apr 2004 16:17:34 GMT, Ellen Wickberg
wrote:

in article ,
at wrote on 13/4/04 6:02 am:

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 18:38:46 -0600, Janice
wrote:


yup.... 'cept lettuce, parsnips, think orach seed doesn't keep either.
Usually they only last the season they're purchased for, no longer.
Maybe if there are way better storage facilities than most households,
you might get another year out of them, so you'd have to grow them out
each year and save new seed.

I don't know about parsnip and orach seeds' longevity, but I
routinely use lettuce seed that is several years old - it
has very good germination.

Pat
So what is orach? My ignorance always amazes me.
Ellen


It's a hot weather spinach substitute, comes in green and red.
Another hot weather spinach substitute.. malabar spinach .. dunno what
the longevity of that seed is ;-)
links below.
Janice

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MV103
http://www.gardenguides.com/seedcata...chburgandy.htm
http://www.pizazz.com/plants/quiche.htm
Thanks you, Ellen

il Tue, 13 Apr 2004 19:52:46 -0600, Janice ha scritto:


It's a hot weather spinach substitute, comes in green and red.
Another hot weather spinach substitute.. malabar spinach .. dunno what
the longevity of that seed is ;-)
links below.
Janice
[snip]

Hot weather? The notes say it bolts in hot weather. For a true hot
weather spinach try New Zealand Spinach. It doesn't have the oxalic
acid flavour of silverbeet and is mild, easy to eat raw.

http://www.innvista.com/health/foods...les/nzspin.htm
http://www.yankeeharvest.com/Merchan...t_Code=HSV2077

For summer greens I use rocket a lot (when there are no cats around
to spray it!!).

--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

On 15 Apr 2004 15:47:38 +1200, "Loki" wrote:

il Tue, 13 Apr 2004 19:52:46 -0600, Janice ha scritto:


It's a hot weather spinach substitute, comes in green and red.
Another hot weather spinach substitute.. malabar spinach .. dunno what
the longevity of that seed is ;-)
links below.
Janice
[snip]

Hot weather? The notes say it bolts in hot weather. For a true hot
weather spinach try New Zealand Spinach. It doesn't have the oxalic
acid flavour of silverbeet and is mild, easy to eat raw.

ah ok, never grown it... warmer weather than spinach I guess. I had
some seed once, and before I could plant them, .. they croaked
That reminds me, I'm supposed to be filling out an order for more
lettuce seed so maybe I can get some planted and growing before it
turns hot .. like last year. Got up to 100F last May, and didn't look
back all summer! It's warm again this year, not that ware...yet.. but
it won't be long!

oh.. what's a silverbeet?

Janice

http://www.innvista.com/health/foods...les/nzspin.htm
http://www.yankeeharvest.com/Merchan...t_Code=HSV2077

For summer greens I use rocket a lot (when there are no cats around
to spray it!!).

il Wed, 14 Apr 2004 23:30:16 -0600, Janice ha scritto:

oh.. what's a silverbeet?

Chard to you :-) we also use it for spinach too. because we never
used to have that commonly. But now we can get bok choy and lots of
differents greens including real spinach.
--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

On 16 Apr 2004 08:24:46 +1200, "Loki" wrote:

il Wed, 14 Apr 2004 23:30:16 -0600, Janice ha scritto:

oh.. what's a silverbeet?

Chard to you :-) we also use it for spinach too. because we never
used to have that commonly. But now we can get bok choy and lots of
differents greens including real spinach.

Ohhhhhh, taste kind of soapy .. but at least they have them in
gorgeous colors now.. yellow, orange, pink, red and kind of blushes
between them. ;-)

Janice

il Mon, 19 Apr 2004 08:48:30 -0600, Janice ha scritto:

On 16 Apr 2004 08:24:46 +1200, "Loki" wrote:

il Wed, 14 Apr 2004 23:30:16 -0600, Janice ha scritto:

oh.. what's a silverbeet?

Chard to you :-) we also use it for spinach too. because we never
used to have that commonly. But now we can get bok choy and lots of
differents greens including real spinach.

Ohhhhhh, taste kind of soapy .. but at least they have them in
gorgeous colors now.. yellow, orange, pink, red and kind of blushes
between them. ;-)

Soapy? Have they bred the tannic flavour out? I've got a bunch of
those coloured ones patiently waiting for me to plant them out,
eventually ...
--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]