I have been starting my own seedlings for over 30 years and have tried many , many products but over the last 10 years or so I have found that my seedlings do much better with FAFARD seed starting mix . I don't have the damping off and I don't lose a lot of plants , sometimes I will add some extra perlite though .I start well over 2400 plants a year and can't afford to lose a lot of them . If you live in the Denver Metro area , O'tooles Garden Centers sell this product . I believe the bales are close to 4 cf . It can be over 30 bucks a bale but believe me It is well worth It . The Pro Mix was ok but I like the Fafard more . You should never start seedlings with a lot of fertilizers in the mix . A good fertilizer I use after the seedlings are up about 2-3 weeks is 'Age old grow' formula, diluted . I hope this helps some of you make a choice . Happy Gardening Everyone and hope you have beautiful gardens in 2016 , Jerry

I got a catalog by email, using the ccviolets@msn.com address. If you used the other address I've seen floating around, you might want to try this one. Or I can forward the PDF if you'd like. Although it might be good to make contact with them to make sure they're getting your messages I think I'll go ahead an get a larger bag of the mixes and not worry about it going bad. I figured the vermiculite and perlite would be fine, but the peat seems more iffy. I'll ask about the fertilizer, too. There's no date on the bottles of liquid that I have, so it doesn't seem to be a top-of-mind concern for the companies.

My experience on bean storage life has been a little different than stated by others above. I've kept my beans (all species) in ziplock freezer bags, filed in boxes, in an air-conditioned room that never gets above 70 degrees F. (usually 65-68 degrees). On the hottest days, when the A/C struggles, I tent over the A/C duct in the storage room, and place the boxes under the tent to keep them cool. Only back-up samples, and seeds with a short storage life, get frozen. The beans are dried to a very low moisture level before packaging, using an odd - but very effective - method. I leave them spread out in trays until the temps outside are near zero, and pulling off a sweater causes a lightning storm (lol). The beans are pretty dry at that point. Works good here Up North, maybe not so good in areas with warmer winters. After bagging the beans, I squeeze all excess air from the bag before closing it. The beans will consume most of the air that is left, and vacuum seal themselves. Whenever the bags are opened, I remove seeds quickly, and again squeeze out excess air before closing. Since I generally store at least a pound of seed per bag, the remaining air is again quickly consumed, which I believe returns the seeds to dormancy. I never take the seed bags out of their climate-controlled room, and never return seed to the main storage that has been exposed to heat & humidity. Any seed to be planted or traded is transferred to other containers. This year, "Soissons Vert", "Bird Egg #3", "Sieva" lima, and a black-seeded yardlong were all grown from 5-year-old seed stored this way. The germination for all of them was 80% or better... and 100% for the yardlongs, which really surprised me, since I have also noted that cowpeas (and Vignas in general) tend to have a shorter storage life than Phaseolus beans. I'm still planting bean samples sent to me 6-7 years ago, of unknown age... started indoors, even those generally get about 50% germination. There is a seed storage paper by a Spanish seed bank that seems to explain why this method has worked so well for me. It emphasizes the importance of low moisture content & low oxygen for long-term storage, even at higher temperatures than normally used. The paper is a little dry (pun intended), but gives a new point of view for long term seed storage. Here is a link that might be useful: A guide to efficient long term seed preservation

What I like about Penzeys is they sell almost all of their spices in the little 1/4 cup jars, which really helps me keep my spices fresh, since single-me doesn't use up spices that fast, especially the less common ones. I also love some of Penzeys unique blends. But I have to pay shipping so not much of a cost savings so I only order things once and a while from there, specialty items, etc. I can also get good spices locally so it's all good. I don't throw spices out too often, I just use them a little more liberally if they are older. Chile powders seem to hold up relatively well for me, I don't go thru the hotter stuff very fast. Paprika, on the other hand, looses its delicate flavor fast. But who cares if you are just using paprika for the color. I do some N. African/Middle Eastern and Hungarian cooking and I actually use paprika for the taste. As for having little jars of weird spices on the counter, I hear ya! But in those situations I try to find recipes I like using that ingredient. I love to experiment in the kitchen. Tumeric is so good for you, I have developed a repertoire of recipes using it. BTW, that's another spice that doesn't do well sitting on the shelf for long periods of time. I think that's why a lot of people don't think tumeric has much taste, because the taste it does have seems to fade faster than I can use it up. I like tumeric with rice and peas or spinach. It's the poor man's saffron.