Old Seeds

Bob Bauer

July 09, 2016 (Last Updated: March 06, 2023) | Reading Time: 1 minutes

July 09, 2016

I went to start a six pack of cabbage today and saw that my seeds are four years old. I keep them in their original envelope with the top folded down a couple of times in a gallon size zip lock bag with 5 or 6 other seed packs, and they have remained viable. I know that dormant seeds respire and having more than one packet in the bag probably helps keep the moisture content up so they don't dry out. Every year all six will mature at the same time overloading us, so this year I planted three on the east side of the garden for afternoon sun and the other three on the west side for afternoon shade. It worked..

We only had to give away three heads. Cabbage has such a sweet tangy flavor raw that I wonder why we even bother to cook it. Like zucchini it has very little flavor cooked, but I shovel it in anyway because the taste of butter and salt is good enough for me. I'm so used to my wife adding garlic powder to the cooked zucchini that once when she forgot I thought the zucchini had gone bad:)..

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