Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

Declutter your seed collection, too, this month

Before buying more, thin your seed stockpile; compost or share the rest

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED JAN 2, 2025

These catalogs are tempting, but it's best to check over the seeds already in hand before ordering more. (Those golden beets? From 2015 -- and headed to the compost pile.) Kathy Morrison

January is both the month of organization and the month when gardeners finally dive into seed catalogs or jump down the rabbit hole of online seed sources. So much fun to choose new varieties to grow!

But first: Declutter that seed collection so everything is up to date and viable. Those onion seeds from 2021 likely should be tossed (in the green waste or compost), since onion seeds last only a year or so. Tomatoes, on the other hand, can do well up to five years, maybe more, so there's no point in buying another packet of a favorite variety without knowing how many usable seeds are left.

As for those other seeds that went unplanted last year: Is there really room in the garden for a patch of Cinderella pumpkins? How about donating them to a good cause (a school or community garden) or trading them in a community seed swap?

Johnny's Selected Seeds online has excellent charts showing seed viability and storage life estimates. Not just vegetables, they cover flowers and farm/cover crop seeds. (Oh, yeah, can I still use that red clover I bought a few years ago?) The Johnny's website also offers tips on seed saving, storage and how to test seed viability.

Seed viability vs. seed germination rate is an important point when saving seeds. As Johnny's notes, "Both germination rate and seed viability can decline with age of the seed. Viability refers to a seed's ability to produce a vigorous seedling. Seed viability typically declines before germination rates do, so it is possible for old seed to still germinate yet produce weak seedlings."

Also important: Seeds must be stored properly. Keeping them in a hot garage will cause them to deteriorate faster than in a closed box in a cool interior closet.

So, what to do with older seeds of varieties you like and want to grow again?

-- Mix them with new seeds if they're scatterable (zinnias, poppies);

-- Start some old ones alongside some new ones (I do this with Juliet tomatoes);

-- Give the old ones a chance. Debbie once found 6-year-old beet seeds that grew just fine; other older seeds never germinated. But unless this is just a garden experiment, as hers was, have a newer backup.

For more information on seeds, seed packets and seed saving, see the UC Sacramento County Master Gardener Garden Note 128, "Understanding Information on a Seed Packet." Search for GN 128 on this page of Master Gardener Publications .

Watch for seed swaps in the region late in the month. National Seed Swap Day is Jan. 25; here's information on the event in Loomis. The Placer master gardeners also will present a workshop on seed saving Jan. 11 during their monthly open garden.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

seeds seed starting seed catalogs seed swaps January winter Sacramento gardening garden plans vegetables flowers

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Flowers in My Back Yard Series

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

Local News

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Find our spring recipes here!

Sites We Like

Garden checklist for week of May 10

Take it easy during that high heat – then get to work! Your garden is calling.

* Remember to irrigate your tender transplants. Seedlings need consistent moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants. Water early in the morning for best results.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Put your veggie garden on a regular diet. Set up a monthly feeding program, and keep track on your calendar. Make sure to water your garden before applying any fertilizer to prevent “burning” your plants.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

* Don’t forget to weed! Those invaders are growing fast.

Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com

Taste Summer! E-cookbook