Nearing the end of April, crocuses and daffodils are popping up and forsythia bushes are in full bloom. You’d never know it was spring with the two inches of snow I woke up to this morning.
Thankfully it melted away by midday. This is the time of year when I pull out the old packages of seeds I bought last year (and before) to see if they will still sprout. Since I have small raised beds rather than large fields, it’s inevitable that I will have seed packets with a generous amount of seeds still left in them.
So how long do seeds remain viable? It varies, of course, depending on the species and how the seeds are stored over the winter. A cool dry place is often recommended. Most seed companies will have dates printed on the packages and on rare occasions how long the seeds will remain viable. Otherwise, it might be a good idea to write the date of purchase on the package.
When it comes to annual flowers, they are generally good from one to three years. Perennials, slightly longer, at two to four years. There’s plenty of info on the Net about vegetable seeds:
Bush & pole beans – 2 years
Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower (along with most brassicas) – 3 to 5 five years
Carrots – 3 years
Sweet corn – 1 year
Cucumbers – 3 years
Leeks, onions – 2 to 3 years
Lettuce – 3 years
Melons – 3 years
Oriental greens – 3 years
Parsley – 2 years
Parsnips – 1 year
Peas – 2 years
Peppers – two years
Radishes – 4 years
Spinach – 1 season
Squashes – 3 to 4 years
Swiss Chard and beets – 2 years
Tomatoes – 3 years
Turnips – 4 years
These are averages and you will likely find some of your favorite seeds either don’t last as long or else far exceed the average given above.
This leads one to wonder what the oldest seed ever sprouted was. So far, it’s been a 2000 year old date palm seed found in the Middle East. Older plant material has been recovered and viable plants grown but not from their seeds, rather from genetic material recovered from inside the seeds, preserved in the permafrost in Siberia for around 31,000 years. Pretty impressive!
With the list above I know when it’s best to toss the old seed and buy new ones. Saving seed from the plants you grow is tricky. This is because many seeds offered in catalogs are F1 hybrids or first generation hybrid. This is nothing new. Farmers and plant breeders have been hybridizing flowers and vegetables long before genetic engineering came about. Crossing two different breeds of the same plant (such as tomatoes) will produce a new plant with characteristics which are combinations of the parent plants and often are more vigorous. The down side of course is that they do not breed true and seeds collected from the hybrid will revert back to one of the grandparent plants which may not have the traits you’re looking for in your favorite veggie. If you want plants which breed true, you need to purchase seed listed as ‘open pollinated’ in seed catalogs.
If you’re only interesting in growing tasty food or attractive flowers, it doesn’t really matter whether you grow F1 hybrids or open pollinated varieties. But if you’re into seed saving then you’re going to have to go with the open pollinated. As concerns about food security grow, there has been an increase in interest on how to save seed, ensuring unique varieties are preserved for future generations of growers.
Whichever choice you make, have fun growing your own fresh flowers and vegetables. Once it’s done snowing of course.
