How to do a germination test on your garden seed?

Winter is a great time to run germination tests.  I like to do this for seeds with a short shelf life or that have been in my stash for so long, I don't remember when they were harvested.

Even if seeds have low germination (less than 50%) we can still plant them, just plant more of them to compensate.  

Here is a quick video on how I do my germination test



Pro tip: keep the seeds at the temperature they would grow normally.  Tomatoes would like to be warm and dark - so maybe above the fridge.  Flax and peas like to grow in cooler conditions, so I keep them on the counter.  

Thanks for the reminding and tips. I bought a pack a seeds this spring, 200 of them. I thought there were a lot, until I found out how densely they need to be planted. I could only grow 1 square foot! Nevertheless, I planted most of the seeds more sparsely and harvested 50x more seeds in summer. However the fibers seemed to be too mature and brittle for processing. I will make sure the seeds are properly stored for next year's planting.

I've found Robert Pavlis's improved baggie method to work well.
Here's an updated video from his Garden Myths site: https://youtu.be/6ZLiA7pv7GQ