Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I just wanted survival seeds that germinate and grow. Excellent germination rate. Late last year, prior to the current apocalypse, I'd planned to plant these using the STUN method, strategic, total, utter neglect, testing different approaches. The squash seedlings proved far too tasty for the fall onslaught of birds, squirrels, rabbits and raccoons to ignore, the results are still pretty amazing. Some of the dwarf siberian kale and mustard greens even survived the winter, providing me a crop right now. With the STUN method, I used no prep, no weeding, planted in the "wrong" place, and got a small crop anyway from these amazing seeds. And believe it or not, that's exactly what I expected to happen. The next step is to let these go to seed (already in progress) and harvest their survivor genetics, getting a crop perfectly tailored to my wrong environment and neglectful practices. I also tested germinating these and some 25 year-old seeds in a bag of the cheapest, store-bought mystery potting soil. Everything came up in neat little rows. The germination rates were at least as good as advertised. The transplanted corn grew. (But not much. They were planted in September in Seattle. Not nearly enough time to grow.) I also have a suspiciously large patch of onions growing like weeds all winter. Which is neat, because I never have enough onions. I didn't even "plant" them. I just scattered them around a few places and then totally forgot about them. Nice. Turns out Jesus was right about that. If you're doing it for survival, especially given the yield I ended up with, I would suggest buying at least 3 to 5 packages if you can, and being much more intelligent and diligent about when you plant them, using compost, controlling the pests with Irish spring and similar tricks, giving the pests something else to eat to keep them busy while your plants get started to really give these seeds the best opportunity. The corn and sunflowers were seeded much too late in the year, but did grow anyway. As it is, I've already gotten much more than my money's worth from one pack of seeds, and I've only used about 20% of the package I bought. These are highly recommended. I'm looking forward to buying these again soon because it's still by far the cheapest, easiest way to replenish all the sunflowers, squash and corn I used up. I'm sold. Virtually every seed sprouted. I'm happy with everything I planted. Got compliments on my porch full of little seedlings. I don't know how it all tastes, but I'm told the flavor comes from a combination of good genes and being raising well. May have to update this when I know more. From a prior purchase of similar seeds germinated last year, I know the shelf life is easily 25 years or more if stored properly. Everything I planted germinated. With any more care (less culling and more weeding), I could have gotten a pretty big crop. All told, minimum total investment was less than $30. Less than a bag of groceries. But do I have a bag of groceries worth of produce? Yes. Easily. Despite using the STUN method and only one bag of potting soil, despite using 20% of the seeds, despite planting in the fall and only waiting until April, despite the cold, gloomy winter, despite being forced to stay indoors by the government, I can still fill up a bag with at least $30 worth of fresh, pesticide-free, herbacide-free onions, kale, mustard greens. And I still would have had enough seeds left over to Johnny Appleseed these throughout all my neighbor's yards. It's a no-brainer, IMO. Just look at the other reviews and see. And the instructions. Yes. Those are helpful. Took a look through them and studiously ignored them all. But if you're trying to grow food this year, I'd pay closer attention to those, which were simple, clear, and helpful. (Doesn't tell you how to trap squirrels, though.) I'm also looking forward to getting the medicinal herb pack from these guys. A bit higher price per variety, but still a screaming good deal. My brother (the real survival gardener of the family) planted a couple herbs that happily took over the yard for more than 10 years, managed by nothing but a string trimmer, that were reasonably well-behaved. I'd have to a little clueless not to make that kind of investment again. Put simply, even a badly neglected garden gives you rates of return you'll never see on the stock market.