Have some old outdated seed packets? There is no need to toss them out. Be frugal. Here is a great idea on saving those old seeds and putting them to good use.
If you are a gardener, you might have some seed packets laying around from last year, that despite your good intentions didn’t get planted. Or perhaps the seeds are so old that you aren’t sure when you purchased them or even what they are. Normally, the right answer is to toss those seeds and start over. But here is a fun idea that will salvage some of those seeds, even the mystery ones whose packets can’t even be read anymore.
Put a small plot of earth aside for this project. You can pick something an area that is out of the way or not, that is up to you. Container gardening is fun for this project, too. Just make sure that the soil is nice and rich.
Sort your seeds into separate piles of flowers and vegetables. If you aren’t sure what is in a particular packet, just take a guess. This is a very forgiving experiment, so don’t get too stressed about it.
Start with the flower seeds, and open the packets. Mix all of the seeds together in a paper bag or a plastic container. Then sow the seeds randomly across your spot. It is pretty much guaranteed that something will grow. I have seen some very pretty flower gardens grown this way. This project creates a wild flower effect, sort of like English cottage garden. If you are container gardening, you will even have a very pretty ready made gift for that special someone.
Vegetable seeds can be a bit tricker, but they will still work, as long as you don’t have anything huge, such as corn in the mix!
And, if you sow a miscellaneous collection of old herb seeds in a container, you have a great “kitchen garden” gift.
This is also a fun project to do with kids. Not only can they watch the seeds germinate, but they can research and try to identify the young plants. What a great home-schooling project!
Let me know if you try this idea!
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