Seeds

[sidelock]

Anyone ordered garden seeds yet? And where do you getem?

 

[coloradoclyde]

Nope but I'm thumbing though the catalogs that have begun to arrive....
Many seeds I buy locally.....I've had pepper plants growing and producing all winter in my kitchen....I'll start some tomatoes in march....

Been eyeballing Seed Savers catalog......

I'd like to get my hands on some of those 800 year old squash seeds.......

 

[TNGhost]

I have most of the seeds I'll use this year. I get a lot of them from the big box stores, or the "dollar" stores(love those 20 cent packs :grin: ).

Since they have gotten so espensive, I also try to grab last year's if they are selling them out on clearence at a liquidator or something,over the winter. I also like hitting local nursery, hardware, ag and feed stores for bulk bags and just to see what they have.


I've found over the years, that for most vegetables, seed that is a year or two old, germinates fine. Some, like sweet corn, benefit from being fresher.

As far as mail order, I've had good luck with Johnny's, over in Maine, especially for northern varieties, although they sell stuff for all climes. I usually look to them, or another catalog house, for something specific, rare or unusual I want that I cant find locally.

YMMV

 

[Katahdin]

Check out, "The Whole Seed Catalog from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds" www.rareseeds.com lots of good stuff in there..350 pages of just about every seed/plant you would ever want and some you never heard of..

 

[sidelock]

I have found that 2 or 3 year old seeds do just fine if they have been kept dry, which is no prob. in MT. Last year gophers cut off every last pea that popped the ground till gun powder and lead cured everything up. Replanted with 2 year old seeds and worked out fine.

 

[TNGhost]

Had the same problem here with groundhogs on the snap peas and the cabbage. Same solution, better eating than gophers, I expect, though. :grin:

 

[coloradoclyde]

Some seeds can last a very long time.....
Check this out..... http://organics.org/800-year-old-extinct-squash-is-brought-back-to-life/

 

[Woods Dweller]

I am not saying this is. But there is a scam going around where there are people posting seeds claiming these seeds are 2000 year old seeds. Then selling each seed at a nice price. And all they are. Are modern Heirloom seeds.

 

[Woods Dweller]

I don’t buy seeds anymore because when I did many years ago I bought Heirloom seeds. I have what I like and that’s what I grow. I store my seeds in a Vacuum sealed bag. {In my older age I don’t plant every year and they stay in better in Vacuum sealed bag} One time an Old Frame give me a handful of corn that he said his family had been growing since 1830. :thumbsup:

 

[coloradoclyde]

I'm not buying anything that is 2000 years old :haha:

I'm with you on the heirlooms, I've lost a lot of seed over the years and some I wish I would have kept I've been growing the same onions, garlic, horseradish and beans for the last 20 years I also managed to save the family rhubarb after over 50 years it was dying out....I transplanted it to my home and now there is more than ever...
Open pollinated and heirloom is the way to go...
This will be my 3rd year for saving potatoes too....

 

[coloradoclyde]

Those 800 year old squash seeds are owned by the local tribe.. To my knowledge they are not selling any.

What were the bogus 2000 year old seeds for?

 

[zimmerstutzen]

There were some wheat seeds recovered from an Egyptian tomb in the 1930 that a portion was planted and grew. It was a fad to grow it for a while. Last I heard anyone growing it was probably about 30 years ago.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Probably Kamut(Khorasan ) wheat, although I could not verify its origin.
Emmer goes back at least 20000 years. Eikhorn wheat goes back at least as far as Otzi the ice man as is was his last meal.
Wheat was all over the ancient worlds cultivated and growing wild......

All the above varieties are available online, if your hungry.. :wink:

 

[user 27715]

I get everything from Seed Saver's Exchange in Decorah, IA. I also prefer heirloom organics for the reasons previously mentioned. I also use draft horses for my garden and other tasks, if I'm going to do some things the old way; might as well do it all the old way. :thumbsup:

 

[coloradoclyde]

Horse apples make good fertilizer....

 

[sidelock]

Do they make good cider? :rotf:

 

[Nativearizonan]

Some seeds can last a very long time.....
Check this out..... http://organics.org/800-year-old-extinct-squash-is-brought-back-to-life/

One big problem with that article, they called this variety of squash an extinct species, which it is not. It is merely a cultivar or variety of one of the few species of edible squash. The photos are questionable, as the pot they show has enough cracks in it to have allowed moisture in to sprout all the seeds. Either they staged the photo at a different time, or there is some hanky panky going on. This could just be a mix of cultivars that came up in someone's garden due to unplanned cross pollination, and they could even have been planted in a pot of a style correct for 800 years ago. I'd want to see the evidence, the actual archeological paper describing their discovery in an undisturbed location, and how they were dated to 800 years old before I would believe the story.

 

[Nativearizonan]

I looked for the info on the 800 year old squash and found this memo, which is supposed to be from the person who provided the seeds to someone else. It sounds like the story got twisted and then went viral. Unless some evidence shows up, I will discount the story making the rounds:
http://welrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Squash-story.pdf

What is interesting is he claims there were seeds from an ancient cave site in Kentucky, possibly much older than 800 years, but they were bitter and he didn't bother to share them. A cave site makes much more sense than a buried clay pot. A dry cave could provide the perfect climate to store seeds for as long as possible.

 

[BillinOregon]

Getting to be that time of year isn't it? I am planting peas and radishes today, and snagged a pack of Burpee large bottle gourd seeds for when the weather and soil warm up.
Here in the Pacific Northwest, one of the very best suppliers is Territorial Seed, with many cultivars adapted specifically to our weather between the coast and the Cascades.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I agree, both back stories about the squash are un-verifiable....they both start out of thin air.....They were created out of whole cloth...

I guess the real question is;
Who is selling the seeds? and does the miraculous story serve their goal? :hmm: