5 questions that you ask better before buying garden seeds

Purchase of seeds

Those of us who raise their own vegetables know that they require more than just sowing of spring seeds and collecting delicious awards during harvest. One of the many gardening tasks that require thoughtful research and attention is the purchase of seeds. If you are thinking about your garden for this season, there are six questions that are worth considering.

1. How long does the seeds last?

The reason why this question should be asked is that you need to know if last year’s other seeds are enough. The answer differs significantly, depending on the specific vegetable. Storing seeds in a cool dry place and outside direct light will improve their overall longevity.

It can be expected that some seeds will germinate well after storing for up to 10 years. Seeds such as wheat, sorghum, rice and other beans.

Other types of long-term seeds include those in the Brassica-Broccoli family, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi and Brussels sprouts-who can last about five years. More types of seeds with longevity from four to five years include cucumbers, pumpkins, squash and some melons – as well as radish, turnip, celery, Swiss chard, beets and lettuce.

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Depending on the source of information and a specific variety, spinach may belong to longer seeds or among those that last only a year or two, but it lasted quite well in my personal experience.

Seeds in the night family differ. Eggplant can last up to five years, tomatoes four and pepper only two.

Medium seeds – which last about three years – including beans, peas and carrots.

Some sources say that the pores can last up to three years, and other sources place them in the shorter category, with Allium relatives, such as onions.

In addition to onions and possibly time, other short -term vegetable seeds that can be expected that only one or two years will last, are corn, rim, parsley, peanuts, salsifs and parsnips.

It should be remembered that there are little difficult and quick rules on how long every seed can last. The best thing to do is to try, remembering that the older the seeds and the shorter the overall life, the lower the probability of germination. But test.

An ideal way to try dubious seeds is to start in a room in rooms and prepare to replace them with new ones, if they don’t germinate. If your situation does not allow enough rooms, buy new seeds.

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2. How should they start at home early?

The type of seeds, climate and cultivation conditions play a huge role in determining how to start them early.

The absolute best advice is to follow the tips of the seed package in the seed catalog from which you bought seeds or from a greenhouse or seller.

Some seeds allow the width of the time width. Others don’t. One of the most important things to consider are the needs of the plant as developed and fruit. For example, does it need an intense sun to develop, or will it get heat? Does it need a long day, a long season, warm from day to day, or a large amount of rain? The time of what your plant needs should dictate the time to start seeds.

Purchase of seeds

For example, long onions will create appropriate bulbs only if there are 15 or more hours of daylight. From the time when the length of the summer increases from the equator, this type of onion is best grown in northern climates. And because the days are the longest at the end of June, the onion must be ready to set the bulbs. Onions should be started in March in some regions, long before most other seeds.

To make sure they result in fruit before frost, other vegetables usually start in the room. Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant are sensitive even to light frost. Many types of acids, cucumbers and melons must also achieve their peak growth during the height of the summer sun.

For other vegetables, the key factor is to grow early to avoid the heat of summer. Lettuce, spinach, peas and broccoli develop best in cool conditions. They can be planted very early – either began in a room or directly sowed in cold soil. Therefore, they will raise their goal before they are warm.

3. Start them at home or buy seedlings?

Many gardeners do some of both. The main factor is the economy of the scale. The cost for the seedling is certainly higher than the greenhouse than starting your own. Buying already starting cuttings is a better value. If the gardener plans only a small story with a few vegetables, it does not seem to be worth trouble and cost buying pot materials and the operation of a heat lamp, and even buying seed packages. (On the other hand, planting them in the room is more pleasant.)

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On the other hand, the cost of purchasing seedlings of seedlings is catching up quickly, and paying someone else for establishing a whole garden full of vegetables can be a costly proposition.

Another thing to consider is whether you will be able to find the variety you want to start. You may not be able to find special products in a commercial greenhouse.

It makes sense to start some seeds that you will use the most and special varieties you want. Also plan to buy several apartments of additional seedlings during the arrival of planting time.

4. How much is enough?

When buying seeds, it is too easy to be incurred! Looking through the seed catalog pages in winter, gardeners want to buy more seeds than you can manage realistically, in the same way people load their buffet plates with more food than they can eat.

Purchase of seeds

One way to control the temptation to buy one of everything is to choose one or two areas where you can throw away. Choose a few favorite vegetables and crazy with varieties – six types of eggplants or four Squash varieties with musk, and commit to restraint with everything else.

Another idea is permission for one new variety in each category in each season in exchange for stopping one of last year. Therefore, keeping total volume in reason, at the same time enjoying new objects and replacing options that turned out to be less successful.

Good records are a great way to determine how much is enough and refrains in excessive expenses. Adjusting purchases of seeds, garden crops and preserved food volumes allows the gardener to determine whether growth or cutting are fine. If the majority of last year’s pumpkin landed at the stake compost, and three years ago there are still green beans in cans, consider planting smaller vegetables and delegate space for something else this year.

5. enchanted compared to hybrid?

Seeds that can be repeated at home are called open seeds. In other words, seeds produced by open vegetables can be dried, saved and planted next year. The result will be the same vegetable as this year.

Hybrid seeds are genetic mutations. Very often they produce a vegetable of higher quality from a seed package, developed for specific purposes, such as resistance to diseases or drought tolerance or higher sugar content or better performance. But seeds from this year’s vegetables will not produce identical offspring next year.

Open seeds are a necessity if you are saving seeds. If not, choose seeds based on other factors.

In order not to seem that the act of buying seeds for the upcoming season is too overwhelming, do not be reborn. Most gardeners miss at least one of these questions, and many gardeners spend their lives, striving to perfection. The reasons for gardening are an important thing to remember. The ability to be self-sufficient, reward for choosing your own food-and above all the pleasure of all this.

What are your most important questions when buying seeds? Share your advice in the section below: