Pamela, thanks for the list stating how long seeds last. That's a very detailed list and so helpful. I'm going to pick up a few packs of organic clearance seeds from '06. Hopefully, some will still germinate.
I dread seeing the expense of putting in new tall garden fences, and I still need more seeds. I haven't even thought of the top ten medicinal plants I'd like to grow, and I have absolutely no knowledge in that area. Also this year, I want to get organic strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, nut trees, etc.
I also have to get a good pressure canner so I don't have to rely on a freezer so much. I have so much to do.
Don't we all!
Be careful when finding old seeds, though, since the packet date does not necessarily reflect the harvest date. Sometimes varieties are on multi-year rotations (there's only so much land to grow seeds on at these seed source places, and with dozens of cross-pollinating varieties and large isolation distances, it gets difficult to grow everything every year), so some of the 2006 seeds might have been harvested years before that, then sold bit by bit until the next harvest cycle time. Hard to know. Whatever does germinate should give you fresh seeds true to type if you're able to save them, which will then last for X number of years depending on the conditions and the species.
Good luck with the knowledge expansion. Prepping is a challenge, isn't it?
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