Lessons Learned from Seed Sorting

I sorted all my packets of seeds earlier today and learned a few lessons along the way.

I learned…

I’m apparently in love with the idea of growing several varieties of beets and spinach, even though I don’t eat a lot of spinach or beets. Is having all these seeds an instinct thing? Do I need to eat more beets and spinach? I guess I’ll sow some of those seeds and see.

Thanks to the wonderful people at Botanical Interests, and my bad habit of placing several small orders instead of one big order for seeds, I have enough packets of seeds for mesclun to last me for quite a while. They always include a packet of mesclun seeds in every order as a thank you gift.

I smugly told Dee on a recent podcast episode of The Gardenangelists that I had several packets of sweet pea seeds so didn’t need to order more from a specialty sweet pea grower we read about. After sorting my seeds, I discovered I had only empty packets of sweet peas. I ordered some from Botanical Interests right away. Now, what else am I missing?

I wasn’t going to grow sweet corn but I have some left over from last year—enough for a small plot—and I have a new packet for a variety called Wild Violet that I ordered a few weeks ago. Apparently, if you want me to try any new variety of anything, just add the word “violet” to it. ‘Wild Violet’ looks like a beautiful sweet corn, speckled with violet colored kernels throughout.

I do not need any more seeds for tomatoes, peppers, or eggplant. Or various squashes. Or peas. Or radishes. Or kale. Or zinnias. Or lettuce. Or green beans. Wait, that’s not completely true. I need a packet of seeds for currant type tomatoes because I am the supplier of plants for these tiny tomatoes for my sister whose grandchildren love them.

Most of my winter-sowing experiment this year will be with… wait for it… violas! I have about 15 different varieties of violas to sow. But to show I’m not a one-track (trick?) gardener, I’m also going to winter sow snapdragons, alyssum, petunias, and poppies.

I have enough microgreen seeds to see me through until my 1957 lettuce patch starts producing, though I realize that microgreens are not a substitute for lettuce and vice versa. It just seems that once I’m growing vegetables outside, I’ll probably stop growing microgreens inside. We’ll see.

I have a pile of a dozen or so packets of seeds that I know I will never sow. Hmmm… would anyone like a random packet of seeds to try? Let me know!