Planted a buncha stuff for the girls’ winter greens. The cabbage, kale, broccoli, and sprouts all look great, but they were all seedlings. The seeds probably had less than 5% viability. Probably about 50% for the carrots and onions, but I figure the lettuce and most of the turnips froze a few weeks ago when we had our first hard freeze. They typically won’t freeze unless they’re really tender sprouts. Got a really fine crop of weeds and the few seeds that made it are good looking plants, so I’m pretty sure it isn’t the soil/compost. I didn’t add any fertilizer so that’s not the problem either. The planters have water reservoirs under the soil, so they never got dry. I think the seed suppliers must treat them with something to limit shelf life. I never have any luck with seeds purchased more than a few months before planting. Leafy greens seeds are almost like powder, so one small packet would plant our garden for a few years easily. Hard to make money if the seeds last that long.
