• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Home Garden Companion

Home Garden Companion

Ilona's Garden Journal

  • Plant Library On The Journal
    • All Season Garden Color
    • Sitemap
  • Garden chores
    • Essential Garden Tools For Beginners
    • Garden Tips and Advice
  • Ilona’s Garden Home
    • Old House Blog
    • Garden Librarian
  • Ilona’s Garden Flavor Shop
  • Privacy Policy

seeds,seeds, and more seeds….redux

22.03.09 | Joanne Dibble | 2 Comments

i have been saving seeds for many years. and no, i dont mean faithfully preserving certain varieties of heirloom seeds, mashing and fermenting very ripe fruit-fly fruit, and drying out the pulp…to get those little living treasures.
this morning i went seed shopping in my big freezer, and am now sitting amid a lapful of cold packets. they do quite well–for years–i have planted 6 year old
corn and blackeye peas that lost maybe 10% germination, kept airless and frozen.
i do buy seed, but i have found this cold-storage method to reduce my spending quite a bit. these days, some seed companies are leaning pretty hard on $2.50 to-$3+ prices, for way less seeds. feels like those treacherous patent holders-and hybridizers are robbing us of seed freedom.

and dont get me started on GMO’s…..the market has already shifted to this brave new world. anything for a buck, and let the seeds fall where they may, literally, while old faithful, open-pollinated varieties fade to grey. cloned food cannot be real food; i must resist on principle! the many oldtime strains, kept alive so long for their excellent flavors are not suited at all to market demands for good shipping, and a long shelf life. which would you want to eat?

yesterday, i started 6 flats of heirloom tomatoes, to both use in my garden and sell the rest. their seeds are from 2006, and grew for me fine last year. some of the bigger seeds lose a greater percentage germination a bit faster, but even beans and xmas limas are still viable for a couple seasons.

folks, dont think i’m a cheapskate by any stretch of the imagination….i buy fancy heirloom tomatoes, chiles, eggplant, odd old varieties of lettuce, various herbs, etc. in those those $3.99 packets, too. However its so easy to fold the air out, tape the packet well, and store frozen in an airtight a zip-lock, and have plenty gourmet seeds for next year’s incipient gardens.

this was an unconscious process for me for a long time in gardens past,
but now a more thrifty effort has really helped… on this season’s newly spring day!
during this period of tiny income, i discover a whole garden, already bought and paid for.

thanks be for seeds…..small gifts and miracles that they are.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

← Previous Post
one great day!
Next Post →
Maui Alert

About Joanne Dibble

DISCLOSURE: I may be an affiliate for products that I recommend. If you purchase those items through my links I will earn a commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link. Thank you, in advance for your support! Privacy Policy

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. flowrgirl1 says

    March 22, 2009 at 8:50 pm

    I’m with ya on this one. Save what we can and say no to gmo!

  2. Paula says

    June 1, 2009 at 3:02 am

    Hi, I am a lousy gardner, but I still love it. I really needed to know if I could use the seeds that I forgot and left in the garage, and they had froze….so thanks for the info. On a different subject,I had a great garden last year, but not the few years before. The locals say it is because we got so much rain, that it improved our gardens last year. And that the preceding years we had little rain, and had to water alot, and there are minerals, or something in our water that inhibit growth.
    What do you think? I live in Piedmont, S.D.

Primary Sidebar

Oh, hi there!

I was a garden blog pioneer, and began writing on this blog in 2003. Before that I had begun a garden website that has been at its own domain since 2006, Ilona's Garden.

I still love writing, gardening, and art after all these years, although travel and grandchildren have become a big part of my life, now.

Newest Postings Here

  • Hawaiian Flower Arrangements
  • HELLLOOOO, From The Other Side
  • February Gardening, Last of Winter in the Flower Garden
  • Compilation of Past Mini-Posts of 2003
  • Wayback in Ilona Garden Time

Visit for a Spell

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Mission

Finding your way home via the garden path

Books, Tools, Tips

Read reviews from the GardenLibarian

Portrait of a Gardener

gardener musings
Musings

What’s Wrong With Today’s Gardening?

Modern gardening
What Is Wrong?

Garden Journal

fine garden journal
Journal, Planner and Log Book
buy quality plants

You might also like

seeds

National Seed Swap Day in January

Garden advice

What Makes a Low Maintenance Garden?

Create A Child’s Garden, Grow Love For Nature

Growing Indoor Flowers In December

I Found Out About “She Sheds” And Coincidentally, About Friends

Newest Postings Here

  • Hawaiian Flower Arrangements
  • HELLLOOOO, From The Other Side
  • February Gardening, Last of Winter in the Flower Garden
  • Compilation of Past Mini-Posts of 2003
  • Wayback in Ilona Garden Time

Books, Tools, Tips

Read reviews from the GardenLibarian

Standouts

10 Useful Gardening Tips For Spring

Do You Grow Herbs? 10 Reasons To Love Them

10 Cool Season Annual Flowers To Plant

Standouts

August Gardening: Ten Suggestions

What are your ten top choices for perennial plantings?

ilonagarden

With village lights With village lights
Christmas decor #christmasspirit🎄 Christmas decor #christmasspirit🎄
Instagram post 17935013548845771 Instagram post 17935013548845771
Instagram post 17981374354427684 Instagram post 17981374354427684
Instagram post 17865517706595888 Instagram post 17865517706595888
Gift of flowers by my bedside Gift of flowers by my bedside
#mockorange #juneflowers #ohio #mockorange #juneflowers #ohio
Instagram post 18224713828022497 Instagram post 18224713828022497
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Join Me

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2023 · Your Site Name

Hazel Theme by Code + Coconut