Secret Farm: A garden blog

Hurray Chives!

Chives are up! And tulips and poppies and - wait a minute...WEEDS! But, the ground is barely unfrozen, how can I already be behind with the weeds?!? Oh well, focus on the good stuff right?

I can''t wait to use me summa them chives in a nice weekend scramble. Perhaps this weekend even? Hmmm?

How long do seeds keep?

That's what I was wondering as I pondered what seeds to order this year. I've got lots of bean and pea seeds left from previous years, but I noticed they didn't germinate too well last year. Is that because they're no longer good? And what about all of my beloved tomato seeds? I mean, you get so many to a pack that you never use them all in one season unless you have a whole farm. I've just got a little secret farm, so I went searching for an answer.

This is what I found:

Vegetable seed viability

beans - 3 years
beets - 2 years
carrots - 3 years
corn - 2 years
cucumbers - 5 years
lettuce - 3 years
peas - 3 years
peppers - 2 years
pumpkins - 4 years
radishes - 5 years
spinach - 5 years
tomato - 4 years
watermelon - 4 years

It also depends on how they were stored. It's best to store them in a dry, cool location away from light - however mine always seem to end up out on the 3 season porch every winter where it gets below zero for a bit every year - way colder than "cool". But last year I had some tomato seeds from 5 yrs ago germinate quite well, so I guess it all depends.

You can check the viability of your seeds by placing several out on a few layers of moist paper towels, roll up so that the seeds don't touch, and enclose the bundle in plastic wrap so it doesn't dry out. Place in a warm bright location (65 to 70 degrees or so) but away from direct sun. Check the seeds every couple days, until you reach 2 weeks. If you put 10 seeds in there for instance, and 3 germinate at the end of 2 weeks, you'll probably have a 30% germ. rate. Of course then you just wasted 10 seeds, so I usually just go with the less scientific -sow more with older seeds strategy. No matter what, I always end up with more seedlings than I can use anyway.

Well, happy seed shopping!

Strange Pepper

Strange Pepper
Originally uploaded by Lorika13.

This is a Thai Dragon Pepper that has been living on my kitchen window sill since it broke off last summer and I re-rooted it in this pot. It has had several blooming and friuting cycles as well. I have been pollinating it myself. In the summer it bloomed and fruited pretty much with the rest outside, but during the fall and winter it seems to be confused and blooms every 2 months or so.

Sure wish I'd been keeping track of the cycles. It's been way more than what you'd expect. Actually, I wouldn't expect any flowering or anything from a hot pepper in a winter window.