I’ve been going through the vegie and herb seeds that I’ve had for, um, too long now – blame it on renting – and most of the seeds are out of date, according to their packets. Everything from bean seeds that were supposed be planted by April 03 to a whole stack of stuff that are all use by Dec 06.

Does anyone have a rule of thumb about what will definitely not be worth trying (e.g. parsnip seed that says “Use ASAP” that Mr Y bought 3 years ago) to my 5 year old bean seeds that I reckon would still be worth trying. I actually planted these purple kings out last spring and got a bumper crop so I can’t see that one more year would make that much of a difference – or am I kidding myself?

Feedback please on the “don’t bothers” are what I’m really fishing for, because I’m planning next weekend to fill lots of punnets to see what germinates.

if it was me i would be getting the gardens set up at your new block doesnt have to have edging and chucking the seeds out around there and then dig it in if any grows.

My theory is that the bigger seeds should remain viable for longer than the little ones. So zucchini seed 3 years out of date are more likely to germinate than, say, carrot seed 2 years out of date.

Yeehah said:

My theory is that the bigger seeds should remain viable for longer than the little ones. So zucchini seed 3 years out of date are more likely to germinate than, say, carrot seed 2 years out of date.

Three problems that I can think of:
- no water supply
- rabbits
- kangaroos

Too early to plant anything frost-tender out here. Need to wait till early November. Melbourne Cup Day is our rule of thumb for that. Better to get things going in punnets and pots first, where we have water. Hopefully then the November rains will get the seedlings going when they’re planted out.

Got that last post crooked with the quote thingy. Shoulda been:

veg gardener said:

if it was me i would be getting the gardens set up at your new block doesnt have to have edging and chucking the seeds out around there and then dig it in if any grows.

Three problems that I can think of:
– no water supply
– rabbits
– kangaroos

Too early to plant anything frost-tender out here. Need to wait till early November. Melbourne Cup Day is our rule of thumb for that. Better to get things going in punnets and pots first, where we have water. Hopefully then the November rains will get the seedlings going when they’re planted out.

Yeehah said:

Yeehah said:

My theory is that the bigger seeds should remain viable for longer than the little ones. So zucchini seed 3 years out of date are more likely to germinate than, say, carrot seed 2 years out of date.

Three problems that I can think of:
- no water supply
- rabbits
- kangaroos

Too early to plant anything frost-tender out here. Need to wait till early November. Melbourne Cup Day is our rule of thumb for that. Better to get things going in punnets and pots first, where we have water. Hopefully then the November rains will get the seedlings going when they’re planted out.

yep good idea how are the chooks pens coming along.

veg gardener said:

yep good idea how are the chooks pens coming along.

We were planning to go out to the block tomorrow so Mr Y could work on the shed, I could work on the chook pens, and the kids could play in the dirt, but the weather isn’t agreeing with out plans.

Yeehah said:

veg gardener said:

yep good idea how are the chooks pens coming along.

We were planning to go out to the block tomorrow so Mr Y could work on the shed, I could work on the chook pens, and the kids could play in the dirt, but the weather isn’t agreeing with out plans.

yeah, is it dry out your way. we need the rain.

veg gardener said:

yeah, is it dry out your way. we need the rain.

Has been dry, but rain in the last week has helped. I keep telling people that it doesn’t bother atm because I’m a townie. I’ll get my rain gauge out of storage when we’re back on tank water again though!

Yeehah said:

veg gardener said:

yeah, is it dry out your way. we need the rain.

Has been dry, but rain in the last week has helped. I keep telling people that it doesn’t bother atm because I’m a townie. I’ll get my rain gauge out of storage when we’re back on tank water again though!

yep

parsnip seeds need to be as fresh as possible I believe so if they are a couple of years old I wouldn’t bother, but most others you will still get some germinating but the % of germination will decrease the older they get. As to whether the size of seed matters I don’t know as I have parsley and lettuce seed that is yonks old but still germinated readily and they are smaller than parsnip seeds.