No Garden Gloves Needed
The weather has been crazy here in new York; yesterday (January 4th) was 60 degrees. Today, is warm too – but gray…and rather muddy. I COULD do some outdoor gardening work, but January gardening time is planning time. Let’s talk about weeding our your old seeds.
Do you have old seeds?
Garden lovers, don’t bee embarrassed. We all do it…even the farmers (noone’s perfect). (My father told me never to make sentences like that, but he also taught me to exaggerate!) So…
We ALL have a drawer or a box or a bag or a jar with leftover seeds. Or gifted seeds. Or seeds we meant to plant, but never did. You know what I’m talking about!
It’s time to take care of that. Let’s garden – indoors – and bee ready for Spring.
Step 1: Sort them out
Growing your own plants is so exciting because you can’t find everything you want in a nursery. Do you know there are over 100 varieties of tomatoes?! My kids always liked the yellow ones Jonah Gold, but my husband loves a good beefsteak. Me? I love fresh lettuce and arugula. I want to try them ALL! (This year I am DEFINITELY growing some Bumblebee Cherry Tomatoes…but I also found a pack of Honey Drop cherries I never got to plant.)
So the first thing you want to do is separate your seeds into piles….all your tomatoes together. All your lettuces together. All your herb seeds together. All your flowers together. Everyone has a different sorting method. You might want to sort them by where you will plant them…near the front steps? around a tree?
You also might want to sort them by WHEN you want to plant them, but that’s a little tricker. Going through my bag of unused seeds I found 4 packages of Sugar Daddy Snap peas from 3 different years. (I am NEVER ready for snap peas…but never say never! 2023 resolutions are strong – so far!)
If all your seeds are nicely labeled with dates on them, you can also sort them by the year. If you look at the chart we provided, you’ll see that many seeds have a long shelf life. I’m especially happy to see that snap peas are good for up to 5 years, and my cherry tomato plans should still bee possible; they last indefinitely!
So, don’t throw anything out! Really. Don’t.
Step 2: Viability Tests
Seed viability tests measure the ability of your seeds to sprout and grow. Nothing is worse than waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Except waiting and waiting and waiting – for nothing to happen. Seed viability tests help you increase the odds that the wait will be worth it.
January gardening gives you time to think and plan….and shop for more seeds when you know which seeds you really need to shop for!
Different Methods to Test Viability of Seeds
Float or sink: This is really easy to do but it isn’t my favorite one to do in January. The sink or swim method is to drop your seeds (one variety at a time, whether it is a jar or a packet of seeds) in a container of water. Let them sit for about 15 minutes. Any seeds that “swim” (ie float to the top) should be discarded – seeds should not swim! Seeds that sink are still viable and most likely will grow in the right conditions.
This test is really easy to do but it isn’t my favorite one to do in January; once the seeds are wet, I want to plant them.
Seed germination test: You want to do a test to see what percentage of seeds from any of your packages will grow. If you are organized and label things well, you can test multiple packets at the same time. If not, take your time and pace yourself.
For one variety of seeds:
- take at least 10 seeds and place them in a row on top of a slightly damp paper towel.
- Fold the towel over the seeds and place in a clear plastic bag (I have used empty bread bags).
- Label the bag with the date and type of seed. If you know what the expected germination time is (information is on most seed packets), write that down too.
- Put the bag somewhere warm (room temperature above 65 degrees), where it won’t be disturbed. It doesn’t have to be in full darkness, or in the light; you just want to see if they will start to grow.
- Check your seeds in 5 to 7 days, or according to the germination time on your packages.
Determine the seed germination rate: Once they have started to sprout, remove from the bag and count how many have grown. If only 5 out of 10 sprout, you have a 50% chance that they will grow. That sounds terrible – but if you plant twice as many seeds as recommended from that same package, you can still get pretty good results.
Ideally, you should have at least 60% success rates and if you are really counting on a certain plant in your garden, you should invest in new seeds if the rate is less than 70%.
Step 3 Recycle them!
The paper envelopes that seeds come in are a no-brainer for the recycling bin, but don’t throw them out until you empty them out.
The old saying, “never say die” is true around here. We keep a sunny spot alongside the birdbath for a “seed graveyard” and toss any extras right into the dirt. If we get surprised, we celebrate! If not, no harm done.
Sometimes we drop the whole envelope in the worm bin. January gardening. You just never know…
Another less scientific method is to mix your old seeds with a new pack of seeds and then over plant. If they all come up, just share some with a neighbor. A very unscientific name for this method is the “Just Wing It Method”; followers of this method do not believe in January gardening.
Here at Backyard Bees, we also love the birds…so it never hurts to give them a little treat. Lots of critters like to eat seeds, so a sprinkling of old seeds can be a feast for someone other than the bees.
summary
January gardening is good for the soul. Sort out your supplies now, starting with your seeds, and keep following along with us. If this article helped you get going, don’t forget to share and keep on following along with us! January gardening is only bee-ginning!
