Q: I was digging around in the back of my refrigerator and found a sealed package with leftover vegetable seeds from last year. There are some that are in the original packaging and some seeds in baggies that I harvested from a few tomatoes and peppers. How do I know if the seeds are still good? I don’t want to plant them and not have them grow when I could buy more seeds this year.
Also, are the seeds at the stores reliable? I don’t seem to have good luck with them.
A: That is a good question with several parts to the answer. First, let me congratulate you for finding them before summer, which is when I find things that I should have found in spring. It is too early to plant seeds for most of us, but we need to be ready when the season starts.
You can run a germination test to see how many normal seedlings start to grow. Seeds for sale must meet minimum federal and state germination standards, which are often printed on the packaging and range between 70 percent and 90 percent. Place 10 seeds between two damp paper towels and place the paper towels in a sealed plastic bag. After a few days to a week, see how many seeds have started to grow. If you get more than seven, then that is a good rate. See a short video on how to do this on the Greener View YouTube channel in the Vegetable Garden Playlist.
Next, you can watch those seedlings or plant them in small pots to see how well they grow. If they are weak or spindly, then the seed vigor may not be very good, and they may not be worth planting in the garden.
Seed companies who are doing tests in big batches will check to see if there are any weed plants coming up with the seeds being tested, but you will not need to do that since they already have.
One thing to remember about the seeds you collected from your tomatoes and peppers is that they won’t be the same kind unless you started with heirloom varieties last year.
Catalogs are a great way to get plants that are special, new, rare, or hard to grow. Your local garden center can’t stock 300 kinds of tomatoes, peppers, or other vegetables, but somewhere out there is a grower with a catalog who does have all the plants you want. If you are not sure about a seed brand, you can look for customer reviews. One thing to look for is how long a company has been in business. Seed companies really do want you to become lifelong gardeners buying their seeds. Here are some companies that I like.
