In yesterday's post, Collecting Garden Seeds I discussed how a gardener could go about collecting their own seed and then later propagating plants from them. It's an easy enough process but what happens when a few seasons have passed you by before you get to use them? Will they still grow?

Well, there's an easy test that any gardener can do with their seeds, whether they collected their own or have some bought ones still sitting on the shelf. And, it's going to save you plenty of heartache waiting for seedlings to appear from dead seeds.

Betty Jakum, an Adams County Master Gardener, has a great article on testing seeds. The test is not much different to the science tests you ran in primary school with alfalfa sprouts. Laying the seeds on wetted paper towel and leaving on the window sill will soon determine whether your seeds are viable or not.

The good ones will have germinated while the bad ones won't. Fairly straight forward, Yes!