While browsing my local Goodwill, I ran across a large bundle of seed packets from last year for $3.99. Used seeds? Doesn’t sound good to me. I think they were just sitting there because nobody would really expect them to germinate.
I bought all of them. Spinach, beets, lettuce, parsley, chives, basil, peppers, tomatoes – I tripled my seed collection. I made this seemingly risky purchase because I know that many seeds last quite a long time – tomato seeds can last for decades in the right conditions and many other common vegetable seeds can still have good germination rates after 5 years.
Lettuce is on the low end of the spectrum, lasting maybe a few years before becoming increasingly less viable. Wait…a few years? If these seeds were packaged last year, then I have a couple years left and even then many of them will still be viable.
In addition to the the mizuna in the center, check out my thrift-store lettuce. It grew well and is delicious, and each packet of a couple hundred seeds was only around 39 cents. I bought a couple years worth of lettuce for the cost of a coffee! The other seeds show promising results as well, and the beet seeds have around 100% germination. I’ve already harvested several dozen radishes and their greens, all from these discount seeds.
So maybe buy those forlorn thrift-store seeds. They might still have some life in them.