My grandma's seed packet from 1978 had way more seeds than the ones I buy now

Honestly, I was sorting through some old boxes in her shed in Springfield and found a half-used packet of 'Burpee's Big Boy' tomato seeds. The packet was faded but you could still read it said 'Approx. 50 seeds' right on the front. I just bought the same variety last month and the new packet only had 15 seeds for about the same price. I looked it up online and a gardening blog said it's a common thing, that seed counts have been dropping for decades while prices go up. It made me think about how seed saving used to be the normal way to garden, not this constant buying of little packets every spring. My grandma probably got three seasons of plants from that one old packet. Now I feel like I'm getting less for my money and it pushes me to rely on buying more. Has anyone else noticed this with their favorite heirloom varieties?

2 comments

2 Comments

umab3516d ago

That drop from 50 to 15 seeds is crazy. Did you check the weight on the old packet versus the new one? Sometimes they switch from counting seeds to listing a weight in grams, which always ends up giving you less. It's a sneaky way to cut the count.

ivan_fisher9916d ago

Seems like a straight up price hike to me.