If you want to save money on your vegetable garden this year, it pays to test your leftover vegetables seeds before investing in packets of new seeds.

It ’s easy to buckle under to the siren ’s call of the unexampled come catalog that start filling mailboxes this time of year . The mouthwatering simulacrum ! The tempting new varieties ! The yearning for warm weather ! It ’s enough to make even the audacious of vegetable nurseryman swoon .

But before you end up spending too much money on new veggie seeds , it make dependable cent to test the semen leftover from premature time of year .

ejaculate can have a long life , especially if they ’ve been store in a cool and wry locating . Just think how long weed seeds can dwell in the soil before shoot again .

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While going through my seed inventory the other day , I found a packet of white bush scallop squash seeded player from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds packed for the 2009 time of year . I remembered these squash plants were wanton to grow , and the fruit was specially delicious .

I used a unsubdivided germination test to feel out if these six - class - old squash seeds were still good for planting this season . Here ’s how you may conduct the same tryout :

If this percentage is above 75 per centum , you could utilize the remaining seeds instead of purchase Modern seed .

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When I conducted my squash test , I checked the seeds after 7 day . I see that 8 of the 10 seeds had germinated , mean 80 % of the germ are still viable . I ’m attend forward to found this heirloom squash again this twelvemonth .

If you find that you have a stock of seeds that are still good , but you ’d favour to implant unlike vegetable varieties this year , there are ways toclean out erstwhile come to make way for the new . Trading seed at seed swaps or donating them to a school garden are just two ideas for reuse old vegetable come .

How do you recycle your leftover ejaculate ?

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A simple germination test will tell you whether you can use vegetable seeds leftover from previous seasons.Photo/Illustration: Jodi Torpey

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