Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Yana on September 03, 2013, 17:42
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I succumbed to a visit to my local Wyvale and, suffice to say, left with rather more packets of seed than I had originally planned. My excuse (if I am looking for one) is that I now have three half plots so will need more seed than last year. :nowink: actually this is not quite true as one half plot is fruit..... Anyways .......
My question is this. I have read that I should not be storing the seed packets in the kitchen, but somewhere cooler and without light. My kitchen has no heating unless the oven is on and the seeds are stored in a box inside a cupboard so are in the dark. I could put them in the garage which is cooler and darker but the metal garage door does get condensation sometimes so is that too damp?
I'm totally confused :(
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I keep mine in an old square biscuit tin which is on a high shelf in the garden shed. Its dry and dark.
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Mine are in a tupperware box tucked in a cool corner by the side of the dresser in the dining room :D
As long as they aren't wet, freezing or baking they'll be fine ;)
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Dry, dark and as steady a temperature as possible, preferably on the cool side.
If the seeds are in foil inner packets you don't need to worry so much about dark and dry, even if you have already opened them, as long as you have carefully folded them back over a few times to seal them.
Larger seeds sold loose in paper packets will need at least a tin to help keep them dark and dry in a less than perfect location.
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Jay, can they be in the garden shed over winter? I mean when the weather gets below zero. There is a lawnmower in there that seems to survive ok?. They are on a high shelf, four foot above the floor.
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Seeds vary as to how much "punishment" they'll put up with, and for how long, before they lose their viability, and they are quite often sold in garden centres having been repeatedly baked in their packets in the displays which are frequently in the glass-roofed sales areas, so they've been abused before you even get them home. :nowink:
That being so (if you buy your seeds that way) it seems to make sense to try to store them as carefully as you can - I wouldn't personally choose my shed as it varies between a hot house in summer and an ice box in winter, but then again I expect seeds to still be viable after 4-5 years, which is mostly the case (I've even got reasonable germination from the notoriously short-lived parsnip seeds after the first year, although F1 sweet corn seeds seem to perform pretty poorly after the same period of time.)
Jay, can they be in the garden shed over winter? I mean when the weather gets below zero. There is a lawnmower in there that seems to survive ok?. They are on a high shelf, four foot above the floor.
Not tried sowing lawnmowers - do you use a grass mulch, and does it go over or under them? :unsure: :lol:
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A tin is essential. I've lost more than a few packets due to mice. They seem to love marrow seeds most of all.
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I've found all manner of safe places for my seeds and then clean forgotten where they were so I am frequently coming across little hoards of seeds packets sometimes ratherer out of date. So my advice is, anywhere you remember is better than somewhere perfect that you forget
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Not tried sowing lawnmowers - do you use a grass mulch, and does it go over or under them?
:tongue2:
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I don't see anyone recommending a (sealed) Tupperware box in the fridge (but avoiding the coldest part)?
I don't do that myself, but I have always understood that that was the best way to maintain the longest seed viability.
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I don't see anyone recommending a (sealed) Tupperware box in the fridge (but avoiding the coldest part)?
I don't do that myself, but I have always understood that that was the best way to maintain the longest seed viability.
You have fridge space ? :lol:
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Thanks everyone.
I've never stored seeds in the shed at home or at the lottie because I thought that sub-zero temperatures would damage the seeds. Have read about keeping them in the fridge but that would be one step too far for the OH.
I've put any disastrous germination down to my error and hadn't thought it was how the seeds had been stored (and always buying fresh parsnip seed each year anyway).
I might put half the packets in a box in the garage and leave the other half in the kitchen cupboard and see what happens. Hopefully they will all germinate!! :D
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You have fridge space ?
Are you implying that the reason I don't do it is because I can't get the paperwork past management? :lol:
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I think that's a likely scenario :nowink:
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You have fridge space ?
Are you implying that the reason I don't do it is because I can't get the paperwork past management? :lol:
I haven't even tried submitting a request as I know it will not be approved. It's bad enough having the fridge stuffed with all the veg and no room for the OH's "tinnies". After all, what person would drink warm beer?. :unsure:
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Something needs to be done
Solutions on a postcard to the usual address please :dry:
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I keep mine in a large plastic old cream cracker box in the cellar. I am lucky as the cellar is dark, but not damp and an even cool temperature. It seems to work. My three year old parsnip seed had near 100% germination this year.
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Shoved in an ice cream container in the corner of the sitting room, without a lid, so I can inspect them to check whether I really need anymore packets....... Of course I do :)
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Beer is far more important than seeds ! and I am a grower :D
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Beer is far more important than seeds ! and I am a grower :D
:D definitely !!
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A tin is essential. I've lost more than a few packets due to mice. They seem to love marrow seeds most of all.
and sweetcorn seeds!
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I put mine in an old wooden telescope box in the shed. Inside the box are takeaway tubs and icecream tubs to separate them by type. I did a stocktake the other day :blink:
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I put mine in an old wooden telescope box in the shed. Inside the box are takeaway tubs and icecream tubs to separate them by type. I did a stocktake the other day :blink:
AND....the outcome???????