Do a germination test on them. Put 10 seeds in a damp paper towel and stick it in a ziplock bag on the counter out of the direct sun. Check it every couple of days for sprouting. It will give you a fair indication of the packets viability.

Dave

I used to have a bunch of old seeds, but I think they got thrown out. The oldest seeds I have are from 2010 since I'm fairly new to vegetable gardening.

Off topic, I guess you watch King of the Hill too. =)

once give a try sow them in the soil if they potency to bud and flower they show results but need to wait for some time

digdirt gave good advice.

It's still early enough that even if your test doesn't work out well, you've still got time to run out and get new seeds.

Thanks for the replies all. Great idea digdirt I will give that a try. Yes I love King Of The Hill :)

Cheers

Have your media ready to transplant into - you don't have to throw those pre-germinated seed away, you can plant them. I have had some of the older seed take more than a week to germinate, but they still gave me great plants (some seed is slower anyway).

Here is a link that might be useful: Pre-germinating then sowing seed, my blog

I have had some 2006 seeds - not vegetables, though - germinate. Some are stronger than others. I plant them all via Wintersowing method, and what germinates germinates, the rest get pitched.

This year I am using coffee filters inside the ziplock bag for germination..cheap ones! I was reading about them on Backwoods Cottage and supposedly the ones that germinate are easier to remove from the filters than ones placed on paper towels.

By all means a germination test on seeds like Beans, peas and corn but if you are just going to pull sprouts and pot-up why not just plant them--- and keep records on germination. I often have tomato, pepper and eggplant seeds that are 6-12 years old that I have already planted (2 wks ahead of normal)keeping track of variety, source, year (written on seed pack)and # planted. Based on germination rate one can replant at higher density, etc. Keep in mind that older seeds often tend to take a little longer to germinate and some seedlings may have deformities. Those are things that you want to document for future use.

For some seeds like lettuces I really am not overly concerned about one or 2 older varietie's germination rate so I just combine 6-8 remnents, mix the seeds, and sprinkle the mixture on a tray of media, noting approx. seeding density. When seeds do germinate you 'll have a cutting salad mix and based on your record of varieties combined you can usually determine what a future planting of the mix will produce in the garden.