the.com/seed packet
A tiny coffin of potential that promises a garden and delivers guilt.
means A small paper envelope containing seeds, printed with a picture of the flourishing plant that may or may not result from your efforts.
from 'Seed' traces back to Old English 'sæd', rooted in a Germanic verb meaning 'to sow' — itself from a very old Indo-European root meaning simply 'to sow.' 'Packet' arrived in English around the 1500s as a diminutive of 'pack,' meaning a small bundle — so, quite literally, a little bundle of future sowing. The paper seed packet as a commercial object is a more recent invention, tied to the rise of mail-order and retail gardening in the 1800s, when companies realized that printing a glorious photo of the mature plant on the front was essential to moving product — a tradition of optimistic false advertising that continues uninterrupted to this day.
- germination rate
- printed optimistically, aged pessimistically
- expiry myth
- old seeds often still sprout, just slower
- back label
- the only agriculture degree most gardeners get
- planting depth rule
- roughly three times the seed's own size