About ten days ago I pondered how long seeds lasted after I found a number of packets of seeds floating around in my shed.

After a few people suggested that the seeds should be viable, I decided to try planting some and seeing what happened.

Ordinarily I only plant one seed per punnet because I hate the idea of thinning things out (how do you choose which live and which die?!) but because these seeds were old I decided to pop a couple in each one to increase the odds.

From top to bottom the seeds that got planted were: Sunberry, Tomatillo, Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherry, Pineapple Ground Cherry, Ground Cherry and Winter Cherry.

Surprisingly, after ten days I have a few (very few!) seeds sprouting. Three, to be precise. They are:

Winter Cherry:

Pineapple Ground Cherry:

And Sunberry:

I’m not sure three seedlings is actually considered success, but it suggests that seeds are far more robust than I had previously expected!

What’s the longest you’ve waited before planting seeds? Have you ever been surprised in the garden?