I was new to gardening about 7 years ago, prior to that I couldn't even keep a house plant alive!! .....when I did first take a chance at it I started with a variety of flowers it went surprisingly well!!; so I started vegetable gardens then a couple of fruits all went well decided to try my hand at pumpkins for the kids to each have their own to carve that I grew for them, the first year I grew my pumpkins, they were just standard jack o' lantern pumpkins and Jack b lil pumpkins they lasted for two years inside our house in Maine that's heated to a average temp range of 76f-84f last year i decide to try my hand at white pumpkins and they grew well I brought my last one inside in mid october of 2021 and here we are April of 2022 and it's still hard as a rock and looks like brand new!!! Guess I have a magic pumpkin too!! I'm keeping it til it actually rots.. if that even happens! I'm beginning to think it may not!!

That I will do. What a spectacular tomato year it was/is here, despite drought. That is, if a person irrigated their vegetable garden. Dry conditions meant very little blight and disease. Even those who watered with sprinklers reported very little disease. For those who didn't water, they lost out. I've never had a year where tomato plants are just as green as can be after harvest. I believe these plants would have kept om producing had we not had day after day of 100(+) degrees. 70 - 100 pounds each day for 3 weeks streight off only 22 plants, I'm not complaining one bit! However, I must resist the urge to sneak into people's gardens at night where I see red tomatoes just going to waste. :-)

Absolutely most seeds will last much longer when stored in the refrigerator, with the humidity as low as possible. I keep all my seeds in one of the refrigerator drawers with the humidity setting on the lowest position. They are generally in paper packets (some are plastic too), organized in open Ziploc baggies labeled "Perennials", "Annuals", "Herbs", "Grasses", etc. I throw the extra dessicants that come with vitamins, packaging, etc. into the drawer and in each ziploc baggie. I have had excellent germination on seeds that are 10 years old and older. This Spring, my parsley, basil, and tomatoes are from seeds that were packed for 1997 & 1998 and they have sprouted abundantly. William Cullina says this in his native Wildflower book: "The other way to slow down the aging process of seed is to refrigerate it. Metabolism involves chemical reactions that are greatly slowed as the temperature is lowered to near freezing, and air-dried seed stored in paper envelops in the refrigerator will stay viable 5 to 10 times longer than seed kept at room temperature."

The reason that most paint doesn't last that long is because people don't put the lids on tight and air gets in. If the lids are snug, it should last 10 years or longer.