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drippy_gw

My Plan for Breaking the Seed Hoarding Disease

drippy
12 years ago

backfired.

So, I decided to plant old seeds this year - I have a lot that are too old to trade, and too old to be hopeful about. This is a good year for this - I am straight out with logistics for my daughter's wedding this summer, and won't have time in the garden to speak of. I figured by wintersowing old seeds, when they didn't germinate, I would (a) have less planting-out work and (b) be able to pitch any that were left.

Wrong.

2 types of annual poppies, 1 petunia from Limoncello plants, gathered from my 2006 garden, wintersowed on January 14, are full of sprouts.

So much for that idea.

Comments (19)

  • aklinda
    12 years ago

    How funny - I love it.

  • northforker
    12 years ago

    Nope, can't avoid those flowers that just want to be born! Maybe you can use some pretty poppys in wedding decorations.....

  • littleonefb
    12 years ago

    Oh Drippy,

    It just fits with "the best laid plans of mice and men."

    Now you should have known better than this. If you wanted all those seeds to germinate, well lets face it, you would have been lucy to find one or sprouts in each container.

    BUT

    Of course when you don't care if they do or don't germinate, presto, containers full of seedlings.

    So now all you can do is grab a container when you can, HOS the seedlings, a real fast plunk and run and what doesn't make it into the ground, Oh well, that's life.

    congrats on your daughter's up coming wedding.

    Fran

  • bakemom_gw
    12 years ago

    new motto for you: I store my seeds...in the ground.

    Congrats on the upcoming wedding!

  • drippy
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Fran, fast plunk & run is surely going to be the name of the game this year! And I have already begged two of my neighbors to come see me for plants in the spring. And there may have to be a few stealth deliveries - surprise! plants on your doorstep - too.

    Thanks for congrats - I'm sure the wedding will be fun when it happens - love daughter, love the husband, love his family - but right now the logistics (especially how to PAY for them) are a nightmare!

  • daisydawnny
    12 years ago

    Oh drippy! We had our daughters wedding last fall....I hear ya! This year I get to concentrate on growing plants for her barren back yard.

  • not_a_contessa
    12 years ago

    Thanks for starting my day with a good laugh.
    Maybe a good way to get rid of seeds is add them to the bird feeder, they eat anything.
    Looks like you'll be enjoying a beautiful wedding, that's great.
    Mary

  • pixie_lou
    12 years ago

    wedding favors = milk jugs full of seedlings!

  • ladyrose65
    12 years ago

    Drippy, love this post. I have a bag of old seeds from a trade. Now I won't be so eager about WSing them. I'm not really big on sporting grasses. Congratulations, for your daughter and family.

  • drippy
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Ooh, Pixie_lou, I like it!

  • kqcrna
    12 years ago

    Just too cute, Drippy :-)

    Karen

  • ralleia
    12 years ago

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    Reminds me of when I planted the whole remaining pack of old leeks seeds that I had, figuring that not many of them would germinate.

    Over 100 transplants later, I learned my lesson about underestimating old seeds! :)

  • mnwsgal
    12 years ago

    LOL, I feel your pain, drippy. Last year I tried the same thing with some of my older seeds with the same results, seedlings everywhere!

  • northforker
    12 years ago

    I had a friend here WSing with me today and she brought a baggie of seed packets I had given her from 2009. "I was going to throw these out - they can't be good anymore - right?" I told her she'd probably get just a bit less germination but when your putting a whole pack in one jug, that's usually JUST FINE!!!

  • littleonefb
    12 years ago

    "And there may have to be a few stealth deliveries - surprise! plants on your doorstep - too."

    HMMM, at least if those plants/seedling and/or boxes arrive on my doorstep, I'm gonna know they are safe and not from some "bad bomber" thinking I'm someone else.
    I'll know they are just from "some crazy fellow WS, that got super desperate and couldn't completely let go of her "babies" so sent them to another "crazy fellow WS" cause she knew that one of "us oldies" would understand what to do with them.

    You'll find a place and a way for them Drippy, you always have. Maybe they can go home with the newlyweds when they return from their honeymoon.

    Fran

  • drippy
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Haha, I am looking at all these responses, and thinking, you all opened this thread from the subject line because you are in the same boat as I am! LOL, I don't want to wind up on that nightmare show about hoarders, but I don't seem to be doing too well at reducing my seed stash. New seeds, new trades every year...sigh. :)

    Fran, newlyweds live on the other side of the pond (Scotland) - customs in both countries frown on unregulated importation/exportation of plants. But I may return to ask you for your address if you are looking for plants in the spring!

  • sandysgardens
    12 years ago

    Kim,

    Thanks for the warning! I have tons of old seed from years past that I just can't throw. I've been thinking about direct sowing them into the ground in a few baren out of the way areas at the cabin this spring. I figured if they sprout I'll be lucky - hmmm I'll keep that thought and if I have your luck I'll have tons of sprouts in them baren areas at the lake.

    Would be too funny turning on the hoarders show, and telling the person next to you on the couch, that you think you might know that seed hoarder from GW!

    Sandy

  • mnwsgal
    12 years ago

    Ha, ha, I am not worried about having my home shown on Hoarders as even with thousands of seeds they are all neatly organized and contained in 5 plastic boxes. I have quit trading for seeds and have given away seeds but they are getting too old to give away. Many are from 2006-2007. I try to limit buying new seeds to just a few new varieties and collect seeds from only the plants in my garden that I want to sow again the next year or to replace older seed.

    Now if I could just get all the paperwork from recipes, gardening ideas, craft idea, etc. organized. I have many three- ring binders full of information. Too much information!

  • trudi_d
    12 years ago

    The Seed Hoarding Disease. Hmmmm.

    I don't know if I want to respond 'Hehehe' or 'Mwahaha'.

    You have a few choices. If you don't sow the seeds then they can go stale with limited germination, different seeds have different rates of germiantion loss over the years, but all of them should be stored cool and dry and in a place that does not get hit with direct sunlight which can warm the contents of seed packaging--high heat can damage seeds.

    So, you can sow them, or you can give them away. After a decade or so of WSing my garden is quite full. Giving them away seems to work out best for me. I'm still surrounded by seeds--beisde me, over me, below me, behind me, ehh, there's seeds everywhere. But it's a rotating stock, older goes out and newer comes in.

    T

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