Germinate!

Why would I buy seeds when I have some from last year?
Turns out that the longer a seed sits in storage, the less likely it is to germinate. Yep, seeds have a shelf-life too.

All seeds have a different germination rate (the % that will sprout if they are all planted). A type of seed may start out with an 80-90% germination rate, but if you keep them a year that could drop to 50%. You can still use them, you just need to plant twice as many as you normally would. Some seeds are just more difficult to get going (like rosemary) and those are easier just to buy as young plants.

So how do I tell if my seeds are still viable? Plant them of course! Well, sort of.
I didn't want to get them confused with one another, so I created a "grid" of sorts to keep the seeds of different types separate. I drew out the grid on a piece of paper so I knew which seeds were what kind.

Here is a great example:
I had two different types of green beans from last year. (FYI, I failed miserably at trying to grow them last year... multiple times.)
This type of bean did pretty well with 4/5 seeds sprouting, making it an 80% germination rate.

The other type? ALL of the beans turned to icky mush that started to mold. Ewww. No wonder I couldn't grow anything with those!
This is just a perfect example of why you want to test your seeds and buy just the new ones you need!

Oh! I also promised to share when my Amaryllis bloomed... here it is! This year it had 4 flowers all at once and really brightened up the dining room. It came quite a long way from the albino plant I pulled out of the basement!