The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Spitsbergen (Norway) archives seed. It works because one can just assume that the germination rate decreases with time. If you archive enough seed, SOMETHING will come up if you plant enough of them. Svalbard says that that seeds of most species there can stay viable for centuries, while some may even survive for more than a thousand years. The "longetivity" of seeds is the number of years (in good storage conditions), that perhaps half the seeds will end up being viable. Big difference in varieties. Tomato and cucurbit seeds can last a long time, while onion seeds aren't much good after a year. So if you're going to plant old seed, plant somewhat more densely.

I use old seeds every year and used a few tomato varieties 10 years before throwing them out. They still germinated but I didn't want to push my luck. Corno DI Toro pepper seeds from 2017 puckered out this year and should of replaced them after last year after showing a low germination rate but forgot.

Onions seeds usually start having a low germination rate on the third year so I try and replace them after the second year. My Brunswick onion seeds had less than a 50% germination rate this year (and the third year) but a variety I don't want to keep anyway so no loss.

Dan, thank you for that info on the Seed Archive. And sowing a lot more because you can get some germination even though diminished germination rate, makes sense. I’ll sow more. I have too many seed because I have stopped growing veggies in my back yard due to shade

And tree root competition and rabbits. So that was a lot of space for veggies. I’m trying various alternatives but just started a couple of years ago with limited success. I have a couple of raised beds on legs out front that I’m trying but it’s not a lot of space. I’ve been growing my tomatoes and peppers out front in full sun in a mixed bed for at least 10 years and that has been working out well.

I have two new small beds out there, I”m just trying to figure out a way to rig up some kind of fencing to keep the rabbits out. Last year I just grew more peppers and had no issue with the rabbits, but I’d like to try more this year.

My refrigerator has too many seed in it. [g] Time to try to use up more of it.

Kevin, what does it mean to ‘pucker up’?

I always buy too many onion seeds and then not use them before they are dead.

I've also used some very old seeds for several years. I save many of my own seeds and just planted the last 4 Barnes Mountain Pink tomato that I purchased back in 2018. They all germinated but now I have to make sure that I save seeds this year or I won't have any. I also planted some peppers that PartyMusic sent me, she called them "Balloon Peppers". They are mild when green and get hotter when they ripen and her seeds were also marked 2018. I got 3 out of 4 that were planted.

I keep mine in my backroom/vegetable storage area. It's unheated and also uncooled, so it gets warm in the summer and cold in the winter, but not cold enough to freeze and cooler than the rest of the house, probably because of the constant shade from trees and the cement block walls/cement floor. In spite of the temperature fluctuations, my seeds still grow, so that works for me.

Annie

Great to save your own seed, all the benefits of it evolving in your garden to suit your climate. I would like to do more of that.

Saving your own seed doesn't evolve anything. It just saves you a little money. To the extent you aren't saving seeds from a hybrid, what you save is exactly what you'd buy.