Seed packet displays

I don't know about you, but seed packet displays always get me excited. The logical side of me thinks that it's much too early in the year for these to be put out and wants to walk past without stopping, but the emotional side of me shouts loudly enough that I always stop.

There's something about a rack of seed packets that I just can't resist. Maybe it's the color, or the uniformity of it, or the fact that you can't really see what's there unless you're close enough to scrutinize the packets. Or maybe all of that is just an excuse for spring fever to start kicking in. I always stop.

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My visits to the seed racks always go the same way too it seems. First, I focus on the edibles. There are lots of flower seeds too usually, but my eye goes to the veggies first.

Also, I tend to see the more common ones first: beans, corn, peas. That's probably because there are entire rows dedicated to these, as they are what most people grow.

My eye quickly moves away from these, as I know that I can get bean seeds pretty much anywhere, at almost any time. I also immediately disregard things that I know I won't be successful with in my small garden, like corn.

I certainly don't have room for something like this either:

I'll force my eye away from things I know that I don't enjoy eating too:

They're so attractive and tempting, but what's the sense if you don't make use of it?

So I'll scan around, looking for something that gets me more excited. Not that growing beans, peas, and lettuces isn't exciting, but I look for something new each year, something I haven't grown before or that catches my eye.

Yep, that one certainly fits those criteria. I'll research it a bit before buying a packet though.

Here's another that looks like it would be a nice addition to my garden:

For some reason my eye tends to ignore the top rows of these seed displays, probably because that's where the larger packets of seeds live, and even the small packets are usually too much seed for my small beds. This year though something up there caught my eye:

Are these new? A biodegradable "tape" that contains seeds at just the right spacing. Dig a small trench, bury, and water. What could be easier?

Also, what could be more expensive (compared to a regular packet of seeds, it's at least 3x the cost)? Or more misleading (just plant, water, and harvest)? Okay, I understand that not having to measure the distance between seeds will save you a little bit of effort, but I would expect these seeds to be spaced correctly for me so no thinning would be required too, but that just can't be.

Take for example the cucumber packet above. It contains 130 seeds in 15' of tape -- 180 inches. Without actually doing the math, I can see that works out to a spacing between seeds of an inch or two -- that's way too close for mature cucumber plants! So some thinning will be required after the seeds germinate for sure.

So what's the point?

The only advantage that these seed tapes have (that I can see at least) is that they just might convince somebody who is not already a gardener to try growing something, and that's a good thing!

Of course that probably means a bigger crowd around the seed packet display next January, and I prefer to ogle seeds alone...

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