If you have seeds from years gone by be sure to test them before using them to avoid any disappointments! Growing a wild edible garden, a medicinal plant garden or a garden for produce takes time and effort. Be sure the seeds you’re using will produce for you!
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I just put my seeds out in my milk jugs on top of the snow. Lol my tables were lookin like yours with all those pkts. Im sure those seeds will germinate for u. Happy planting
Thanks for the quick PSA on the pesticides! Any suggestions for starting "finicky" wild plants/herbs from seed? I have failed in the past to start creeping rosemary and wild rose.
Love this idea. Thank you and good to see you again. Happy developing your new garden. It will be great to get updates on how it develops.
Old seeds are often still good, long past their normal shelf life. Other than those contaminated with poison, many or most may still have life and value.
Many Natives, Wildflowers and some herbs especially, need specific dormancy / warm / thaw cycles. Some need double dormancy – a cold, moist followed by a warm, then another cold moist; some, the opposite cycle. These stratification periods can be up to several months. Most often 30-90 days.
Seeds may be perfectly viable but would take months of the correct conditions to germinate.
As Jess said on Roots and Refuge the worst place to germinate your seeds is the garbage can, there is a 100% failure rate.
Winter Sowing is one of the best ways for simple cold stratification, but for seeds requiring multiple cycles, it takes a time commitment and some particular conditions.
Awesome! Don't rule out seed that fail your germination test, some older seeds may take longer to sprout (Depending on the species). Tomato seeds can last 35 Years if stored properly (Especially Wild Seeds often last a very long time). 4:06 trow them out onto soil where they can grow & not in the trash, give them a chance to sprout even if they're are "too Old", you'd be surprised how old seeds my sprout in a year or whenever they feel like it (It's all part of the Soil Seed Banking survival strategy for the plant species, if weed seeds from 50+ Years ago can do it, so can your old seeds).
5:43 that's the kind of thing I wish Seed Companies didn't do.
Especially since you have a lot of seeds, I'd recommend you mix them up to their species or cultivar group so you'd have "Less Packets" to deal with. You don't need 59 cultivars of Cabbage Separated when you combine all of them in 1 bag to embrace diversity, It's why I've embraced Landrace Gardening to let everything cross so My plants can adapt to my climate. I've been collecting seeds since 2020 so I understand your situation but I store all of mine in Metal Boxes where dark, cool & dry so they last longer. What do you think of my set up?
I really love when Foragers become gardeners & vice versa. To me, Foraging & Gardening are both the same activity just on different spectrums. I wish your Wild Garden Success! Definitely explore trading seeds with others who also Forage (Idk why most foragers don't also save seeds to plant elsewhere).
Wow you've got a great idea here