Hi eileen -

The best way to preserve your seeds is to put them in the fridge.

I use an old plastic butter container and leave the lid off - then place each of the seed packets in there. By leaving the lid off, it will allow the humidity to escape the packets.

I bought seed the beginning of this year - and I just planted some lettuce seed for growing under lights in the house. About 50% of them germinated by keeping them in the fridge using this method.

Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog

There is a great FAQ on how to store your seeds as well as discussions and suggestions on different types of storage containers and organization methods over on the Saving Seeds forum here at GW.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Saving forum

Thank you both! It looks like I could do much better with the consistency of the temps, and I know that the seed packs I have opened and used to plant are definitely no longer bone dry! I'll do better.

Dave, thanks for reminding me - there is always a forum here for any specific thing a gardener might want to know! (Of course, now I'm saying - why didn't I think of that!)

Good gardening!
Eileen

Seeds should be kept in cold and low humidity. You live in central Florida. Yeah, put them in the fridge.

If you do put them in the fridge or freezer, be sure to put them in an airtight container and when you want to take them out, take the container out and let it sit on the counter and get to room temperature before opening so a bunch of condensation doesn't form on the cold seeds.

Since I can't seem to resist messing with my seeds, I keep a supply in a box at room temperature that's enough for this year (or at least several months) and the rest go in the freezer. The idea is to not take out the freezer seeds very often (ideally no more than once a year to refill the seed box, but I doubt I'll ever be that organized).

Also, there's a huge amount of variability in seed shelf life. So yes lettuce won't last very long at all while tomatoes can last 10 years, so don't feel too bad about that as there's not much you can do. However, keeping your seeds in consistently cold and dry conditions may help you squeeze another year or two out of those short-lived seeds.

As a side note, I've ALWAYS had trouble with getting spinach to germinate. Is that just a hard plant or what? After a couple of years of trying I gave up and grow chard instead, using it instead of spinach in recipes. It's MUCH easier to grow and tastes similar enough. Also, the chard in my garden now is from a packet that was 6 years old and stored improperly in a hot garage and I planted them all thinking I'd be lucky if any germinated. This is why I now have about three times as much chard growing as I had originally wanted.

I get the impression that spinach is just difficult to grow in warm climates like ours.

This is a method that you can use for long-term storage. It is extremely effective.
1. Buy fresh seed whenever available. Or collect seed and allow it to dry indoors for a couple of weeks.
2. Place in airtight container. Seed must be dry.
3. Place container in freezer.
4. When you need seed, remove container from freezer. To prevent condensation, do not open until contents are near room temperature (about 30 minutes).
5. Remove seeds that you are going to use. Close container and place back in freezer.
Seed will remain viable 20 years or more. I'm still using seeds that I bought in the 70's.

Here's a packet that I just finished up last year.

{{gwi:34402}}

Spinach does not germinate well in warm soil even if you have fresh seed. I can germinate it inside my air conditioned home and transplant it in August for a fall harvest. However, if I direct sow, very few seeds germinate. In the spring the seed germinates fine when direct sown, but it's a race to see if the plants will be ready for harvest before hot weather causes them to bolt. I may experiment with shade covers next year for maturing spring plantings and late summer direct seeding.