Saving money by saving seeds
16.8 years ago seed saving, seed storing
Many people do not know that given the right care you can save a package of seeds for 3 years and depending on the variety possibly even longer. When you want seeds to germinate you provide heat, moisture, and light. To prevent them from germinating you want to do the opposite by storing them in a cool, dry, and dark environment.
I happen to live in the humid Pacific Northwest so finding a dry location can be difficult, but I happen to have the perfect environment in my kitchen in my refrigerator. Just thoroughly clean and dry a glass jar and drop in your seed packets and close the lid. If you happen to one or two of those silica packets lying around (those things you find in the toe when you put on new pair of sneakers) drop that in the bottom it will help soak up any moisture that may exist in the jar. If moisture seems to appear inside your jar simply open the top and the dry environment will suck all the moisture out.
| Empty glass jar | $ 0.00 |
| Silica packet | $ 0.00 |
| Packets of seeds | $ 15.00 |
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| Total | $ 15.00 |
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| Savings over 3 years | $ 30.00 |
Tags: garden seeds
15.9 years ago
This is awesome! I am a hobby gardener and never even thought about how to make my seeds last longer than one season! Thanks! I plan to blog about this very frugal tip on my blog within the next couple of weeks. Happy New Year!
15.6 years ago
The pellet seeds have about a year shelf life one way or another.. they are pregerminated and they dont last as lon..
14.5 years ago
[…] from treesandshrubs on how to make origami seed packets (very neat frugal idea!) I found a post at The Cheap Vegetable Gardener on how to extend the life of my seeds! I will definitely do this with the seeds I purchased last week. I ordered tomato and eggplant […]
11.9 years ago
[…] lettuce seeds sprouted faster than usual this year, I expected to have some problems since I have saved the seeds for 3 years now. I don’t have a heating pad (yeah I’m cheap) so just put them on top of […]
10.3 years ago
[…] was planning on starting some cucumbers, lettuce, and tomatoes but apparently I didn’t save any tomato seeds from last year so looks like I am stuck with the local seed selection this year. I didn’t […]